It's MY Life
by neveralostfan
Summary: What to do, what to do? So many new choices. So many new ways it can all be. At least it will all be MY choice this time. At least as much as I can make it so. H/Hr with a hopeful new twist. Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: What I own, I own, what I don't, I don't. I make no claims on the Harry Potter universe. What you recognize belongs to JKR. If you don't recognize it either it's mine or you've been living under a rock.

**It's MY Life!**

**Chapter 1**

_To whoever reads this. This is my personal journal, filled with thoughts and conclusions about my life thus far. If I fail in my quest then this will be the only way I will be remembered._

_Let me introduce myself. My name is Harry James Potter. I have many titles attached to my name, though I never wanted any of them. I have been called The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, Scar Head, Vanquisher and The Forever King, just to name a few._

_I have never wanted any of this. All my life, the only thing I have ever wanted was to just be myself. To be "Just Harry" as my friends used to call me._

_I have no friends left now. They have all left me, or rather, I have left them behind. It is all rather confusing depending on which way you look at it. I remember something from when I was young, it was a movie, a character said, "What I told you was true, from a certain point of view."_

_I understand now. That's where it started. With one person's "certain point of view" everything can change. The certain point of view began with one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. He was given a prophecy before I was even born._

"**THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES . . . BORN TO THOSE THAT HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . . AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . . AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NIETHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES . . . THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . . "**

_Such a seemingly random bunch of words. I'm sure he put a great deal of thought into it though. It was just the conclusions he came up with that was the problem. That and a problem with the wording itself. Specifically the words, "Neither can live while the other survives" I found that one to be the worst line of the whole damn thing. It should have said, "Neither can DIE while the other survives." Me and old Tommy boy have been at this game for far too long. I kill him, he comes back. He kills me, I come back. I've known for a very, VERY long time how this has happened. Which brings me back to why I have no one left._

_I have no idea what the actual date is. I've died and woken up so many times that I'm no longer sure. Sometimes I die and come back in a few minutes, sometimes it's a few months. My sense of time is so skewed that I can't even tell you the year. By my best guess it is sometime between the year 2546 and 2793. That's as close as I can get. There's no one left except for me and old Tommy and he's still trying to kill me. What does he expect to have if he ever manages it? There's no life left on the planet except for me and him right now._

_I'm sitting in a cavern right now. It's small, maybe three meters by four meters, right beside a very solid looking vault door. Beyond that door is what remains of this world that I have been able to save. My Hermione, she started it. A brilliant plan to save everything we could in case the worst should happen. Beyond that door lies samples of everything we could find. Every plant, animal, and book we could get our hands on ended up in that vault. We found that it would be to difficult to place stasis charms on everything individually. She was the one to come up with a way to place it on the vault itself._

_My Hermione. She always was the most intelligent person I ever knew. I have sorely missed her company these last few hundred years. She's the one that left the research it took me so long to complete. Her theories were always so far ahead of her time, making the rest of us look like cavemen swinging sticks compared to modern man. Still, it has taken me this long to complete her work and triple check the numbers. A lot of self study and self teaching to come to this point. I hope I'm not wrong. If I am it's not like I will ever know about it. Either it will work and what I hope will happen will actually happen, or it won't and I will finally have peace and be able to see my Hermione again._

_This journal is my failsafe. Actually, it is Hermione's failsafe should the worst happen. It contains all my thoughts, notes and histories as best I can remember them. So that the history of our world will never be forgotten. Read through this book carefully so that you can make the best decision._

_A word of warning. Be careful of how you treat others lest our history becomes your future._

~~oOoOo~~

Harry Potter, one of the last two people on the planet, slowly closed the book in his lap. That introduction in his journal was one of his last steps to do. Securing the cover tightly closed with the provided bands he slowly opened the vault door behind him.

Standing at the threshold he took a long moment to stare at the contents. Books and containers were strewn everywhere. It was one, big, jumbled mess. There was no help for it though. One of the problems with the stasis spell Hermione had cast was that anything that passed the threshold was instantly put in stasis. They had to fish two people out of it when they first started so many years ago. People froze instantly in whatever they were doing when they stepped fully into the vault. Harry himself had tried to reach in to pull people back when they discovered it, only to find that his arm would not work when it passed the threshold. He had spent a day trying to lasso two people like they were cattle before he managed to pull them both free.

Sighing heavily, he pulled back his arm and threw the bookinto the vault, watching as it landed amongst the piles of other things scattered inside. Jars of plants and shrunken animals. Books of everything and anything the could get their hands on. From Plato's Republic to Hogwarts: A History, every book that they could find or steal or scavenge, it was all inside. Giving one last sigh he closed the door and made his way to the last chamber.

This chamber had been set aside many centuries ago. It was designed for one purpose and one purpose only. It had taken until three days ago to complete the work on it. A last desperate gambit to save what they once knew. Walking inside he gathered the necessary things, laying them in precisely calculated positions. Triple checking that everything had been put in its proper place he walked over to the bench. Waving his wand he released the stasis spell on the potion that was on the workbench. Smiling ruefully that the countercharm would have been nice to know when those two people had been stuck in the vault he plucked the vial from it's resting place.

Taking the final few steps to get to the prearranged position he sat down on the floor. Downing the potion in one gulp he lay back and closed his eyes.

_Hermione, one way or another, I'm coming home._

With that thought firmly in his mind the potion did its intended work. His heartbeat slowed, his breathing became shallow and Harry James Potter, one of the last two people left on the planet, died.

And then he awoke screaming bloody murder.

A/N All reviews are appreciated, even bad ones. Also, I am looking for a Beta still. Anyone interested please send me a PM


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't, I don't. I make no claim to the Harry Potter universe. If you recognize it, it belongs to JKR, if you don't then it's mine or you've been living under a rock for years.

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 2**

_Bloody Hell!_ Harry thought to himself when his screams of pain finally stopped. _I knew it was going to hurt but damn! That REALLY buried the needle on the pain scale! _Harry glanced around at his surroundings. Taking in the painted bedroom and what seemed like a cage around him until he recognized it. _Right, crib. Babies get put in cribs for the night you idiot not cages._

His thoughts were interrupted when the door to what he supposed was his bedroom opened and the just awoken form of his mother stepped into the room. His eyes were glued to her, greedily drinking in the sight of his actual mother coming forward to pick him up and hold him in a hug. He closed his eyes and relished in the sensation for a few minutes before another voice made its presence known. "Is he all right, love? Think he needs his nappy changed again?"

Harry's eyes snapped open at the voice as he looked upon the form of his father. He realized that all of the people who told him he looked like him growing up were remarkably accurate. He would look like an almost carbon copy of James Potter as he got older. Then the second question permeated his brain. _Mental note: added to to-do list: prove I can go to the bathroom myself at first available chance._ He really didn't need the embarrassment of knowing his parents were changing his nappies. It's bad enough when parents bring out baby photos of their kids when they're older to embarrass them without having his older self stuck in the mind of a baby and actually knowing what was going on.

"I think maybe he's just a little fussy. You did tell him about Halloween tomorrow. Maybe he's just a little excited." Lily was slowly bouncing up and down while rocking back and forth from one foot to another, gently rubbing his back to get him to calm down. "Maybe he's just hungry again?"

Harry immediately started squirming again. _Oh HELL no! Not that! It's bad enough with the nappy changes! I don't need to be more scarred knowing I'm being fed from my own mothers breast! Got to get down! Got to get down now before the side effect of the potion wears off. _

The potion that Harry had taken did do what it was intended. It sent his older self's memories back to his younger body. However it did have a side effect that was theorized would happen. In order for such a transference to taken place it had to have a lot more power. Therefore, the potion had boosted his magical core by a factor of ten. This boost was not a permanent thing, it was solely to make sure what happened would indeed happen. Harry suspected that maybe half the power boost would be used for the actual trip. This left him with roughly five times his adult core for a limited time. He had already thought of what to do with the excess energy, he just needed to see it through.

Lily, unable to calm a squirming Harry and able to sense that he wanted down, placed him on the floor of the room. It took Harry a few minutes to work get used to undeveloped baby muscles and how to use them. He finally managed to crawl his way over to the door of the room and set himself just inside. Using some of his magic he summoned five wooden building blocks to him. Lily and James' mouths had hit the floor in shock at the display of magic coming from him. Harry noticed this out of the corner of his eye and mentally apologized for the shocks he was going to give them this night.

Grabbing each block one at a time he infused it with a spell of his own making, keyed to the magical signature of only one person. He banished the blocks to their positions, one on either side of the doorway and the other three to their designated spots. He then started to crawl to the doorway itself. He heard James stuttering behind him, "L-Lily? What is our son doing?"

Harry ignored the speculation going on behind him and continued his crawl towards the doorway. Reaching the threshold he slapped his pudgy hand down and set the triggering spell. A light flashed and for a moment a clear barrier appeared in the doorway before fading to nothing. _Damn! _Harry thought to himself. _This is taking more out of me than I expected. I just hope I have enough to finish. Probably going to pass out for a few days afterwards though. At least they'll know it was just from magical exhaustion and nothing more sinister._

He turned around and crawled back to his parents. Stopping before his mother he held up his arms. Lily took the hint and picked him up while James stood a few paces away. Harry began fussing again and looked around at his dad. James just stood frozen to the spot staring at his son in wonder. Harry started screaming again while mentally cursing himself that his young body didn't know how to talk yet. _Come on Dad! People always said you were smart. Take a hint and get over here! _After a bit more screaming James made his way over to his screaming son and worried wife. _Little closer Dad, come on! Need contact for this to work and my magical boost is starting to wear off!_

Finally James wrapped his arms around his wife and infant son. Harry immediately stopped screaming and began concentrating on where he wanted to be more than anything right at this moment.

With a loud crack he apparated the three of them to a small bedroom in Crawly. Harry was very thankful Hermione had shown him pictures of her bedroom from when she was a child. He didn't know how he would have gotten here otherwise.

With the loud crack of apparition Harry thought for sure that Dan and Emma Granger would come running soon. That proved to be an understatement of massive proportions as the door burst open and there stood Dan Granger with a shotgun in his hand staring at the two adults and one baby that were standing in his daughter's bedroom. The child in the couples arms was screaming his head off. "What the Hell are you people doing here? How did you get in here? Who are you? And what do you want?"

Harry was smiling to himself even though he was feeling very tired at the moment. His reserves were almost gone but he had to wait for a few more minutes before the last part of his plan came into being.

Lily Potter holding her baby boy in her arms and still in a state of disbelief over what her son had just done, still had the presence of mind to recognize the shotgun. Knowing they were in no position to get their wands out in time she struggled to come up with a plausible explanation until they could obliviate the people of their sudden appearance in what was obviously their home. "I-I'm sorry sir. We're not really sure how we got here. We were at home a few minutes ago. Our little Harry here woke up screaming and wouldn't stop. Me and my husband were trying to calm him down when we found ourselves here."

James attempted to play along. "I'm terribly sorry for intruding into your home like this sir. I'm James Potter, this is my wife Lily and our son Harry. If it's not too much trouble could you perhaps tell us where exactly we are?" Harry had to admire his parents attempts to explain away wizard things to a couple of muggles but he was going to have to put them on the spot even more.

He was still screaming and struggling in his mothers arms and his screaming had awoken Hermione who also started screaming. Dan and Emma could make no move to comfort their daughter because James and Lily were between them and her. Harry struggled and screamed even louder at the sound of Hermione. Lily finally gave up and put her son on the floor by her feet. He stopped crying immediately, drawing the eyes of the two Grangers to him which was what he wanted. Using the last of his reserves he apparated into Hermione's crib and hugged her close.

At the first contact a golden glow surrounded them, reestablishing their bond. Hermione wouldn't understand it for many years to come but it was the only way Harry could keep his parents away from Godric's Hallow for a few days while his trap for Tommy boy could be sprung. As the glow faded both children finally fell asleep still holding onto each other.

~~oOoOo~~

As their children fell asleep both sets of parents were staring at them with wide eyes and open mouths. Lily and James recovered first and gave each other looks as if to say, _So much for the secrecy laws. _They turned to face the other two adults in the room who were still staring at their daughters crib and the strange boy that was sleeping beside her. James attempted to break the silence first. "Well, that was unexpected."

Dan recovered before his wife and aimed the shotgun at the intruding couple before asking again, "Just who the hell are you people?"

James and Lily slowly raised their hands indicating that they meant no harm. "Please sir, if I may? As I stated before, my name is James Potter and this is my wife Lily. The little boy asleep next to your daughter is our son Harry. Also as I said before, we have no idea where we are. We were both rudely awakened a short time ago by our son screaming. When we were both trying to comfort him we found ourselves here in this room. From that point to right now you know the rest. If you could be so kind as to tell us where we are it would be greatly appreciated," James finished with a small smile.

Emma Granger, finally overcoming her shock at the appearance of three strange people in her daughters bedroom in the middle of the night, answered first. "Crawly, you're in Crawly. This is our home. I'm Emma Granger, this is my husband Daniel and that's our daughter Hermione." Regaining her thoughts and voice lead to another question, "What just happened?"

Lily answered first, "Ah. As to that would you mind terribly putting the gun away? And if we could talk someplace else I'd appreciate not disturbing the children. Harry is almost impossible to put to bed again after he has woken up."

Emma smiled slightly and nodded. "Hermione is the same way. If you give us a bit to make ourselves more presentable we'll talk in the living room." She then noticed that Lily was standing there in nothing but a nightgown and James was wearing a shirt and boxers. "Would you like to borrow some housecoats to cover up with?"

Lily and James both looked at each other, taking in their clothes before blushing a deep red. "If it's not to much trouble we would appreciate it." Emma smiled at the two and nodded before taking Dan by the arm and walking back to their bedroom. Once they were gone Lily turned to James and whispered fiercely, "What are we going to tell them? What about the Statute?"

James sighed deeply and ran his hand through his jet black hair. "There's nothing for it love. You saw that glow, you know what it means just as I do. You also know that it only happens between a witch and wizard. That means that Hermione's a witch, probably a muggle born one if her parents are anything to go by. That means they would have found out anyways when she turned eleven. This way they're just finding out a little earlier than normal is all."

Emma walked back into the room carrying two housecoats and catching the last of their whispered conversation. "What are we finding out earlier than normal?"

Lily looked up with a deer in headlights look before saying, "We'll tell you in the living room." Emma nodded and handed the two housecoats. She waited a moment as they put them on before turning and leading them out of the room and down the stairs to the living room. Gesturing to the second sofa Lily and James took their seats before Dan and Emma sat opposite them with a small coffee table between the two. Reaching for her husbands hand Lily took a breath and tried her best to explain in a hopefully believable fashion. With her first question she knew that hope crashed and burned. "What do you know about magic?"

Dan and Emma looked at each other and back to the two intruders/guests sitting across from them. Emma braved an answer first, "You mean like in fairytales and books you mean?" Lily and James nodded. "But that's all it is, tales told in books and on the telly and in the cinema."

Lily shook her head and began her explanation. It took her and James almost two hours to explain to the Grangers, with copious demonstrations with their wands, about the magical world. And now how they were a part of it with the part about how Hermione was a witch. Emma nodded at that as if something had finally been explained. She was remembering the day that Hermione had been born. As soon as she had started screaming the lights in the delivery room had started flickering and tables full of equipment had shaken. At the time she was exhausted and chalked it up to a minor earthquake or some such thing. With Lily and James' explanation and demonstrations it actually made more sense. Coupled with Lily explaining that such things were normal during the birth of a magical child the Grangers finally came to believe the two strangers that had showed up in the middle of the night.

"That's all well and good," started Dan. The appa-whatsis still sounded a bit wonky to him but he was willing to put it aside for the moment. "But you still haven't explained about that glow from earlier." He couldn't help but notice the nervous glances the two newcomers shared. "What is it? Is it bad? I can tell you two know something but don't want to share it. This is our daughter and I think we have a right to know."

James gave a sigh and looked as if he was trying to find some way of giving news he really didn't want to give. Finally he looked Dan straight in the eyes and said, "It's a bond of some kind." He saw Dan's eyes start to widen and he looked like he was going to start screaming so he hastened to add to the explanation. "There are lots of different kinds of bonds. Good and bad. We know that it is a good type of bond based on the color. What type of good bond we won't be able to tell for a few more years. It could be a bond of friendship or love or…" he trailed off quietly.

"Or?" Dan prodded.

"Or it could be a soul bond," Lily finished softly.

"What is a soul bond then?" asked Emma.

Lily started again with the explanation. "A soul bond is a very rare bond between two people that were born specifically for each other. In the non-magical world it's called a match made in heaven. It's basically just what it sounds like. Their two souls are bound together forever. If that's the case we will know for sure when Hermione receives her letter for Hogwarts when she turns eleven."

"Why then?" Emma asked. "Why can't we find out sooner?"

James and Lily shared another nervous look before James took over. "Because if that is the case then Hermione will receive her letter for Hogwarts first because she is older. Being that the letter is magically generated it will have her legal name on it. If it's true that they are soul bound then the letter will be addressed to Hermione Potter because they'll be legally married in our world."

"What?" Dan shouted as he jumped to his feet. "There is no way I'm allowing my daughter to be married already! Married before she can even talk? No! I won't allow it! You two can just grab your son and get the hell out of our home right now!"

"We can't!" Lily wailed and began to cry on James' shoulder.

Emma grabbed hold of her husbands' arm and gently pulled him back down to the sofa. Once he was seated again she looked over to James who was holding onto Lily, rubbing her back and whispering softly to her. "Why not?" she asked calmly.

James was the one to answer. "We can leave if you want us to," Lily gave a sob at this point. "But we would be unable to take Harry with us. The bond needs forty-eight hours to solidify and stabilize. If we were to separate them now it would literally kill them."

The two couples talked for many more hours. Lily helped Emma prepare a lunch for them as well as dinner as they talked through the day. It was decided at the end that Lily and James would stay for the requisite time for the bond to stabilize before going home again. Lily and Emma prepared the guest room for the night. Both couples had become, if not friendly then definitely comfortable with each other by the end of the day. Remarkably, neither child had woken the entire time. It was decided that they would continue the talks the next day as both couples settled for the night.

~~oOoOo~~

Back in Godric's Hallow a lone figure calmly walked up the walk to the house where his spy reported that the Potter's were hiding. With confidence born of many years he blasted open the front door and strode inside. Looking around the room he made his way upstairs to find his target. As he walked he relished in the feeling of his coming triumph. With the child's death there would be nothing left to stand in his way. Finding child's room he stepped through the door and was immediately encaged in a shimmering field of light. Shocked at this magic he paused and tried to identify it. He started his examination and noticed the beams emanating from five simple wooden blocks. Sneering with contempt he sent a spell to destroy one of the blocks only to have the block in question absorb the spell. He fired another spell then another and another. His spells becoming progressively more powerful. When his spells failed to destroy the blocks he fired the strongest spell he knew at the shimmering field in front of him.

His shock lasted only a moment later when the spell rebounded and hit him fully in the chest. The impact knocked him back the few feet to field behind him and he bounced forward off of it onto the floor. He tried to scream out in rage and frustration only to find he couldn't. Glancing down he saw a hole in his chest large enough for a football to pass through cleanly. The creature gave a look of wonder at the hole he had blasted clean through himself before finally dying of the wound. Lord Voldemort, most feared Dark Lord of the age, died on the bedroom floor of a child he had gone there to kill.

A/N Now don't get your knickers in a twist! As I explained it was a TEMPORARY power boost that Harry got. This is not a SuperHarry story. The boost in his magic is already gone, don't expect it to come back. And Voldemort is not gone either, he still has his horcruxes out there. All I changed is Harry's parents not dying and him becoming one. He still has all his future knowledge so things are going to be different but he'll develop just like any other magical child from this point onward as far as his magical core is concerned. **Please leave a review to let me know what you think! Thanks.**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't I don't. I make no claims on the Harry Potter universe it belongs to JKR. What you recognize is hers what you don't is mine or you've been living under a rock for years.

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 3**

Harry opened his eyes slowly, momentarily panicking because everything looked so unbelievable _large_ around him. His panic slowly subsided as recent events coalesced into his foggy mind. _Right, baby me. No wonder everything looks so huge, I'd be surprised if I'm a foot tall yet._

Harry closed his eyes for a while longer, trying to organize his thoughts into some semblance of order. _Back in time. Check. Tommy out of the picture for the moment. Check. Bond with Hermione. Check. Let's see, what's next? _Harry was a little worried about this point for the simple fact that all of the plans he needed to implement required more movement than crawling and more speech than screams. He turned his head slightly and saw the form of baby Hermione laying next to him.

He was suddenly lost in his thoughts and memories of the past.

_Hermione laying beside him on a bed. The night of their wedding. They were twenty-three. The golden glow surrounding them in the early morning hours after a bout of making love._

_Hermione approaching him as he was seated in his favorite chair. A radiant smile on her face as she told him she was pregnant._

_Hermione lying lifeless in his arms a few short months later. Their unborn child still within her. His voice screaming in rage and grief and anger as his magic was left to run rampart with no control and only a vague target. Finally looking around him as he noticed the crater he was kneeling in and the buildings around him in flames. He never did find out if those Death Eaters survived the blast or not._

_Slowly going through the years alone with no one and nothing for company._

It was a miracle he wasn't insane by the time he left. He remembered he used to talk to himself pretty regularly or to the memory of Hermione as he had arguments with her that only existed in his mind at that point. Still even the memory of her provided good balance to his often rash actions.

Bringing his thoughts back to the here and now Harry ran through his options. He couldn't do very much in his present body. He had all of his knowledge and spells from his future years but his magical core was that of a fifteen month old baby which pretty much eliminated everything unless his emotions were running rampart to create accidental magic. His thoughts returned to what he already accomplished. _Damn, Mum and Dad are going to tell Dumbledore about this._

He immediately set his new task. Bringing up his occlumency shields. While this was, in itself simple, reality had to muck around and add its own twist to it. How would a fifteen month old baby possibly have occlemency shields? This gave Harry a problem. If Dumbledore kept to his usual practices he would want to probe Harry's mind, probably under the guise of performing a checkup on him to _Make sure he suffered no trauma_ most likely. Harry gave a mental snort at his Headmasters manipulations.

It did, however, present a problem he needed to work through and quickly.

As he was working on his occlumency he happened to chance upon the answer. Securing his mind he was sorting through all of his future knowledge, cataloging, storing and securing those memories. Off to the side of those memories he found a strange _blackness_ was the only way he could describe it. Upon closer examination he found rudimentary memories of his life up until the point the came back. They were strange and disjointed to say the least. His infant self had no idea what the big people were saying or who they really were. Snatches of conversation were garbled enough that no sense could be made of them. Sights and sounds were all bright and glaring, screaming for his attention at all times. His young mind had not developed the necessary filters yet to focus on things.

These infant memories suited Harry's purpose perfectly. He surrounded his future knowledge with a wall of purest black so that it blended seamlessly with it's surroundings. He then surrounded these wall with more walls, although he made these ones permeable. He placed these walls in the hundreds, layering one atop the other, all surrounding the one with his future knowledge. Over the outermost layers he supplied his infant self's memories.

Finally he was satisfied. To anyone who tried to use legilimency on him he would just appear to be a blank slate with little knowledge of the world around him. At the first sign of any probe he would simple retreat into his "core" for lack of a better word. Harry resolved to let his new memories play out and store themselves outside his "layers" to adjust with his experiences. Anything that showed his future knowledge in this new timeline, by action or deed, would be stored in his "core" and either an edited memory would be supplied or one from his original timeline.

Satisfied with this solution he returned his attention to his soul mate. She had finally woken and was staring at him with those same chocolate brown eyes that he would always be able to lose himself in. He tried to smile at her but was unsure if he was able to manage it or not. He watched as she struggled to sit up in the crib. Finally she was able to manage it and turned back to stare at him again. He could see the beginnings of her future intellect in those eyes as she looked at him, trying to figure out who this new person was and how he had gotten there.

Harry struggled to pull himself into a sitting position as well. They sat and stared at each other for what seemed hours. Finally Hermione _burbled_ and a smile appeared. He couldn't help himself at that point, he started laughing hysterically, or what passed for it in this body. It actually ended up as more like screams. He found he didn't care in the slightest and simply couldn't stop. The thought of his beautiful, gifted, intelligent and book obsessed Hermione, the one who always quoted facts and information and well thought out plans and hypotheses for as long as he had known her. Now and forever more her first words to him instead of "Have either of you seen a toad." would be permanently replaced with _Burble._

Hermione apparently liked his baby laugh and wanted to play so she handed him a stuffed bear and then grabbed one for herself. They sat laughing and playing for awhile until the adults came in to see what the noise was about.

~~oOoOo~~

Dan and Emma had spent the morning getting to know the strange new couple better. Emma was surprised when Lily had helped her with the morning breakfast and watched with fascination has she waved her wand and objects floated and moved on their own. She gained control of herself enough to overcome her shock. Soon they were trading recipes and talking about the stupidity of some of the things their men had done.

Lily was enjoying getting to know this relaxing woman. She found a part of herself that she had nearly forgotten about before. Emma was coming to remind her of her sister Petunia. Not the envious and bitterness that turned Petunia into the person she was now, but the acceptance and friendship they both shared when they were small children. Lily would never admit it out loud, but she missed the friendship she had with her sister. Certainly she had friends now, but they were all in the magical world. Emma was someone who could connect her back with her past, with her roots before she went to Hogwarts.

Emma found herself growing more and more comfortable around Lily. Emma had never had a great many friends before. Or at least, not people that she would classify as friends. No, the people that she knew and talked with the most frequently would more be classed as social acquaintances by her. Lily was something different in her experience. She was warm and open and inviting, inquisitive but not invading, questioning but not invading her boundaries and respecting her privacy. In the short time that Emma had known Lily Potter she had come to accept that she could be a good and true friend given time.

In the living room, Dan was in the midst of a dilemma. Three complete strangers had shown up in the middle of the night in his daughters bedroom. A complete shock for any ordinary person. To have that shock then compounded upon with the revelation that magic exists in their world, to have it demonstrated to him, and then to be told that his daughter had some type of magical bond with a boy he had never laid eyes on before, that_ may_ or _may not_ indicate that she was married before she was out of nappies. That said potential husband was also in nappies and he could do nothing to frighten away said potential husband, _Really Dan, how the hell do you scare a boy away from your daughter when he's not even old enough to understand you? _Needless to say, Dan Granger was in a state of emotional shutdown since the night they appeared.

Looking up at a noise from the doorway he noticed James Potter standing there eyeing him with sympathy. "Bit of a shocker for you, I imagine." Dan snorted at the massive understatement and turned his head to resume his gaze out the window. In the corner of his eye he noticed James slowly make his way into the room and sit in a chair facing the same direction, only a small end table separating the two. After a few minutes of silence Dan was shaken back to the present by James' voice, "Can I interest you in a drink?" Dan slowly turned his head to face the man that had made such an abrupt intrusion into his and his wife's lives. After a moment of awkward silence, in which he continued his somewhat blank stare, James offered up tentatively, "You look like you could use one." Dan nodded his head slowly to which James replied, "I'm going to use some magic to get us some of the good stuff all right?"

Seeing his slow nod again James carefully pulled out his wand and gave it a wave. With that simple gesture Dan watched as a bottle and two glasses suddenly appeared. James watched as he tensed slightly. "It's all right. It's just some wizard made alcohol." Seeing Dan relax slightly he grabbed the bottle and filled the two glasses with amber liquid. Holding one out for Dan to take he then relaxed back into his chair and took a tentative sip. He waited as Dan watched him drink before he took a sip himself.

Dan was thinking that his life just couldn't get any stranger. People showing up out of nowhere, things appearing left, right and center. Now drinks appearing out of nowhere. It was disturbing in its own right. He took a slow sip after watching James do the same, then nearly coughed himself into a coma.

"Bloody hell! What is this stuff?" His throat was burning pleasantly and a warm sensation was making itself known in his stomach. He sat up straighter in his seat after he got his coughing under control.

"Firewhiskey," replied James. "One of the better wizarding drinks. Guaranteed to make you forget all your problems by the sixth glass at the most." He had a small smile on his lips as if it explained everything. "I'd take it very slowly if I were you. If you're not used to it, it will have you under the table faster than you can blink."

Dan eyed the glass warily then took another slow sip. Now that he knew what to expect he found it to be a rather pleasant drink.

Talk continued between the two men, each feeling the other out, trying to get an idea of what the other was all about. For James it was the idea of someone that would do their best just to provide for his family. He could respect that even if it was a foreign concept to him. James was the Lord of the Potter household and his family was very well off. They wouldn't have to work for several more generations if they didn't want to. For Dan it was the idea of someone who had everything, to give it all up just to protect the ones they loved. Dan could understand that concept all to well. His own father had thrown him from the house after he announced his intentions to marry Emma. His father didn't approve of her at all and they hadn't spoken to each other since the day he told him of their engagement.

Talk became easier as the drinks flowed. Stories became funnier and laughter began between the two men as they shared some of the funnier moments in their lives. They were halfway into their third glass when they heard screams coming from Hermione's room upstairs. Both fathers immediately dropped their drinks and bolted for the stairs, their wives right behind them.

All four came to a sudden stop at the sight of the two toddlers sitting in the crib, swinging stuffed animals back and forth and laughing happily. Emma and Lily smiled at the perfect scene of happiness between their two children. Dan and James exchanged looks and quietly left the women standing there to return to their drinks. Lily and Emma exchanged looks of their own and nodded to each other. Each silently thinking to themselves that if their children could find that much happiness with each other then maybe they would see if a lasting friendship could be developed out of the sudden appearances.

~~oOoOo~~

Many miles away from Crawly…

Sirius Black walked nonchalantly up the front walk to the home of one of his friends. He was going to catch up with Peter to see about the latest news of goings on. He opened the door without even bothering to knock. The house was eerily silent with no signs of life at all. A sinking feeling began to develop in his gut as he drew his wand and began to look for some sign of his friend, expecting with each room to find nothing but a body or blood splattered on the walls.

After his search turned up nothing but the persistent feeling in his gut remained, his face paled to almost white. _James and Lily!_ Peter was James and Lily's secret keeper! It was a last minute switch from the plan. A clever ruse to have the Death Eaters trying to find Sirius to get to the Potters. It was long suspected that there had been a traitor in the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix. Some were suspecting the Potters other friend Remus Lupin, simply because he was a werewolf and therefore labeled a "dark" creature. Sirius had not doubted his friend at all but had been convinced to secretly change keepers by James, who thought it would be a grand prank to play on their fellow marauder.

If, however, the spy was actually Peter, then they may have doomed his friends just for a silly prank! With that thought lodged firmly in his mind, Sirius ran out of the house. Once clear of the wards he apparated to Godric's Hallow and the home of his best friend.

Arriving at the house his knees nearly gave out at the sight that awaited him. The front door was blasted completely off it's hinges and lay in a wreckage of shards and splinters along the hallway. Gathering what courage he could, he slowly made his way into the house, determined to find what he thought was the final fate of his adoptive family.

He made his way around the first floor and found nothing of importance. Nothing that looked out of place. Thinking that it would be just like their cowardly enemies to simply murder them in their bed he took a deep, slow breath and made his way upstairs.

Stopping at the door to James and Lily's bedroom he closed his eyes and steeled himself before looking in. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary he let out a great sigh of relief. _Maybe they managed to get away. _He kept that hope alive in his head as he took a few more steps to check Harry's room. Hope turned to shock as he came upon what appeared to be a glittering cage with the body of Voldemort lying inside.

Sirius froze and stared at the sight in disbelief for a frozen eternity. Shock gave way to elation at the end of the Dark Lord. Elation gave into anger as the realization of how he came to be here in the first place set in. Anger gave way to duty as he set off a patronus message to Albus Dumbledore letting him know of the news and to come quickly to Godric's Hallow.

Sirius made his way outside to await his arrival, thankful he had the scrap of paper on him that told of the place were the Potters were hiding. He collapsed on the front steps of the house and held his head in his hands. Scrubbing his face momentarily he muttered, "I need a drink."

The wind softly blowing the leaves through the yard was his only answer to said need.

A/N For those that would like longer chapters I will say this. This story has no plot mapped out, no ending yet. This story is writing itself, I am just along for the ride. When an idea pops into my head for the next chapter I am usually at work. That gives me about 3 or 4 hours to bounce the idea around finding the beginning, middle and end of said chapter and a vague idea of when to insert certain points. Then it's probably two hours of typing to get done then posted. So if you are looking for longer chapters blame it on my imagination because apparently it's that short.

Also I would like to thank Annabelle for the wonderful suggestion and hope that I at least attempted well with this chapter.

**Thank you all for reading and please leave a review to let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't, I don't. I make no claims to the Harry Potter universe, it belongs to JKR. What you recognize is hers, what you don't is either mine or you've been living under a rock for years.

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 4**

Harry walked slowly around the grounds of his families estate reflecting on the changes that had happened so far. It had been a little less then six years since he came back and today was his seventh birthday. Sometimes the amount of changes shocked him. They had all started innocently enough but, when taken together, were staggering in their sheer amount. He walked around, simply letting his feet take him where they wished, absently twirling his wand in his hand.

Take, for example, his first action. To save his parents. That had seemed pretty straight forward to him at the time and gave him the advantage of a life with his parents, something he had always wanted more than anything. He marveled at the ripples that had spread from just that one, seemingly benign action. Saving his parents had, logically, given them more years to live their lives. What he hadn't even thought of before, was that by extending their lives, he would be gaining siblings. He now had a brother and three sisters! With at least one more on the way! The thought of his larger family always brought a smile to his face. An actual family of his own! He wasn't the last of the Potters any more. First had come his sister, Rose Emma, born a little less than a year after he came back on June 11th 1982. His mother had insisted on a flower name, stating that it was a tradition in her family for girls. Harry had been amazed and captivated by her the moment she had arrived in the world. He played with her and kept her company whenever he wasn't with his Hermione, and no one could miss how fiercely protective of her he was. After Rose came his little brother, John Daniel, born August 5th 1983. Then there were the twins Alyssa Amelia and Jasmine Joy, born July 15th 1984, according to his mum she had let his dad pick the middle names for the twins, she had no problem with Amelia but Joy made sure any name in the future got her approval first. This next soon to be Potter, they hoped would be born before the September 1st cutoff date for Hogwarts but weren't to concerned if it didn't happen.

It amazed him that one simple little thing could be such a big change. The thought mostly crept into his head when he was sitting at the dinner table or in the middle of the night when one of his siblings woke up screaming when they were babies. Such a simple thing, one change in his past and his future spread out to encompass so much more. He loved his family dearly and he made sure they knew it each and every time.

He gazed off into the distance at the house there. That was another of the changes he influenced by coming back. It was the house belonging to the Grangers. The house was built on the Potter grounds, far enough away from the manor for privacy but close enough that a five minute walk would bring you to the front door. After the body of Tommy boy was discovered at their Godric's Hallow home, the Potters had decided to move back to their ancestral home. No one could bring down the field surrounding the body and no one could penetrate it either. Harry smiled ruefully every time he thought of it. He had poured enough magic into that field for it to stay active for the next twenty years. That should be plenty enough time for him to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes. When that happened, he hoped that the shade that was trapped inside the field and he suspected was still hiding inside the body since it couldn't escape, would simply disappear since it had nothing holding it to this plane any longer. _Ah well. No sense worrying about it now since I can't do anything for a few more years yet._

Before they could move back though, James had went to Gringotts and asked the Goblins to ward the property to the best of their ability. The Goblins had, of course, complied since the better they did the greater their profit was. The only place that had better wards now was Hogwarts and Gringotts itself. The wards on the property were actually better than Hogwarts at the moment because the school's wards weren't fully activated all of the time and the Potter wards were.

They had to impose on the Grangers for an extra two weeks while the wards were set up but that actually turned into another blessing as the two families became great friends. Once the new wards were up, James and Lily brought Harry to the manor and keyed him into the wards as well. The first night there Harry apparated out and into Hermione's bed again. His disappearance caused panic from his parents when they woke the next morning to find him gone. The Grangers were surprised to find him sleeping with their daughter again but had no way to contact the Potters to let them know he was there. Three hours after they discovered that he was missing from his room, Lily finally showed up seeking comfort from Emma while James was still looking for him with Sirius. Her shock at finding her son in a playpen with Hermione was comical to Harry and he made sure to file the memory away under his "most funny" collection. And so that pattern had continued for months. They would wake up to find Harry gone and then go to the Grangers to pick him up. They couldn't actually stop him from doing it. They didn't want to leave the safety of the wards and they couldn't remove Harry from the keystone or else he wouldn't be able to enter. After much time and thought this lead to James proposing to build a house for the Grangers on the grounds so they wouldn't have to worry about Harry. They waved away the objections of the Grangers saying that it would be too expensive stating that if their son and daughter were actually married then it would make them family. Potters always took care of family and this way they and Hermione would be safe if and when the information about the bond ever became public knowledge. This of course halted Dan and Emma's objections because, as parents, there was nothing they wouldn't do to keep their child safe. So the house was built and Dan, Emma and Hermione were keyed to the wards, with Dan and Emma being given dedicated reusable portkeys to get from the house to their dental practice.

When Harry was five his parents took him to Diagon Alley for some shopping. They were in the bookstore when he noticed all the books about him. This observation sparked another little change. Turning to Lily he asked, "Mum, how come there are all these books about me?" That had led to the discussion about how he was famous and known as the boy who lived because of his defeat of Voldemort. Harry had been secretly furious with this because he absolutely hated his fame. Putting on his best "innocent child" expression he continued. "I thought you said it was a supposed to be a secret what I did and not to tell anyone. I thought you said only three other people beside us knew about it. How did all these books find out then?" This led to a few shocked looks between his parents as they realized he was right. Only his parents, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore knew about that. Those thoughts led to the goblins to find out who was behind the books, which apparently led back to Albus, which led to him no longer being welcome at Potter Manor, a hefty fine, and the complete retraction of all books about Harry Potter. They had no problem with Albus making extra galleons but refused to let it be at the expense of their son. Harry had been flying on his toy broom the first time Albus had tried to apparate onto the grounds after his access had been removed.

_Harry was flying along the grounds, slowly making his way to spend time with Hermione for the day. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light somewhere above him followed by what sounded like a slap on the face. As Harry looked to the sky there was another flash of light and a loud crack just outside the gate. Harry had made his way over to see a bundled mess on the ground outside the gate. He was sitting on his broom trying to figure it out when the bundle gave out a groan. The groan was followed by movement and slowly Albus Dumbledore himself appeared out of the tangled mess._

_Harry just couldn't resist having some fun at the old man's expense. "Are you all right mister?" He watched as Albus slowly stood and began to get his bearings again. "You shouldn't try to come into someone's home uninvited. My Dad says it's not polite." He then listened as he made some excuse and asked if Harry would fetch his parents so that they could talk. Harry agreed and turned around to make his way up the drive when he suddenly stopped and got off his broom to begin picking flowers. "Harry? I thought you were going to get your parents so that I may talk to them?" Harry had turned around and looked at him as if he had totally forgotten he was even there. "Oh, right, but the flowers looked pretty so I wanted to pick some for my mum since I was heading to her anyways." He then took his time, making his way slowly up they drive, apparently looking for the prettiest flowers to give to his mother. He managed to stretch a short walk out for three hours making the old man wait there the entire time. After he had given his mum the flowers and told her there was a strange old man at the gate he had stayed at the door and listened to his mother shouting at Albus. He had to silently admit to himself that his mum could probably give Molly Weasley a run for her galleons in the volume department. _After that, they never saw Albus Dumbledore at Potter Manor again. As an added protection they also decided to put the grounds under a Fidelus Charm and to make James the secret keeper.

A few months later he had talked to his dad. The results from that talk led to what became, a surprisingly short time later, the first all werewolf village in Britain. _Harry had walked into the library, intent on getting another book to read, when he noticed his father sitting at a desk pouring over some papers. "Hi Dad, what are you doing?"_

_His father looked up from the papers and smiled at him. "Just trying to take care of some family business Harry. Someday all of this will be yours and I want to make sure it's all taken care of in the best way possible."_

_James watched his son carefully as Harry took on, what he and Lily jokingly referred to as his "thinking hard" face. He marveled at his son, sometimes the most innocent things that turned into the best ideas came from that face. "Can I help?" At James' nod he walked over to his father and looked at all the stuff on the desk. Spotting a map of Britain with patches of red on it Harry turned to his dad and asked, "What's all the red mean?" Harry, of course already knew what it meant but he still had to act like a child._

"_All those spots indicate land owned by the Potter family. Some of it's farms, or buildings, or reserves, or even nothing but wild land. It's all land owned by our family."_

_Harry nodded, "That's a lot of red spots then."_

_His dad laughed at this. "Yes it is. Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with some of this land that no one is using right now. I'm actually thinking of selling it." James pointed to a fairly large red spot towards the northern coast._

_Harry put on his "thinking hard" face again. "Why not give it to Uncle Remus so he and the other wolves can use it? Put a ward around the whole area so only wolves can enter. Then they have a safe place to go where no one will ever bother them."_

That had led to some thought, which led to some talks, which led to more ideas. All of which led to the first ever all werewolf village. Since the land was owned by the Potters and the wolves didn't want to take charity, the houses and business that soon sprang up paid a small rent to use the land. It was actually turning a small profit too! Of course, the Potters, Grangers, and Sirius were always welcome at any time but they were some of the select few non wolves that could pass through the wards.

Life continued in this vein. One big, happy, _living_, family. The Potters and Grangers took holidays together. One of which took them to the south of France where the Potters had a villa. After Harry's sixth birthday they went there again for a surprise present for Harry and Hermione. Apparently you could legally buy a wand in France when you turned six, something the English didn't allow until you were eleven. So Harry and Hermione were taken to buy their first wands. Of course, being Harry Potter, nothing was ever as simple as that. What had begun as the trying of wands for himself and Hermione, led to custom wands being made for them both. That had taken two days, between almost a full day of trying to sort out materials for the both of them and another day for them to be made. When they returned for the completed wands and were told to try them out Harry was shocked into disbelief. Not that his own wand had promptly burst into flames from his power, he had expected that, but that Hermione's had as well! The unfortunate part of that was that it had resulted into some very nasty burns to both their hands. After the shock of burning wands had worn off, both kids had started screaming and crying from the pain of their burns. Lily had rushed over and cast a strong numbing charm on both kids before rushing them off to the French equivalent of St. Mungo's. James, Dan and Emma had stayed behind to shout at the wand maker for awhile trying to find out exactly what sort of incompetent he was. After the man had practically cried himself into a blubbering mess explaining that it shouldn't have even been possible, that the power required to cause a wand to burst into flames like that shouldn't be present in children, Harry and Hermione had both been tested for magical baselines. Normally this test was done at the start of magical schooling, the results kept to the school files and only available with the Head's permission. The Healer that was administering the burn salve tested them after finding out exactly what happened, Harry noticed that she paled considerably before walking out of the room. When his mum and dad came back in, both were almost white. They told Harry and Hermione that they couldn't use wands, that they would need staves instead. Harry already knew that he would of course, but the real shock to his system had been that Hermione would need one as well. He could only suppose that because of the bond, some power sharing was taking place.

They returned to the wand maker where they repeated the process of choosing materials. This time they were wearing some type of bracelet to help and to measure durability of the materials to see if more were needed so they didn't overload again. Harry had to chuckle to himself. He didn't consider himself some sort of super wizard but over the course of an anywhere between six and eight hundred year life, he supposed he shouldn't be that surprised. He would guess that the same would be true for the Flamels because of their sorcerers stone. Over a long enough period of time, flexing the same muscles must make them pretty big.

In the end, he and his Hermione had gotten their staves, which could shift between staff and wand size with a thought. After swearing the wand maker to secrecy they had continued on their vacation until it had been time to come home. Once they returned to the grounds of Potter Manor the adults, minus Dan and Emma of course, began training them magically. The wards around the grounds prevented the detection of their underage magic but the two children were strongly warned about even letting others know that they had wands off the grounds. Not to mention the stern talking to they'd been given about using them off the grounds unless they were in a life or death situation. Similarly chastised the two agreed not to let anyone outside family know and also agreed not to use them outside the grounds.

Brought back from his reminiscing, Harry finally noticed his surroundings. Idling marveling that every time he wandered and let his mind drift, his feet would unerringly take him straight to where ever his Hermione was. There she was, laying on a lounger by the large pool. Staring at her, he simply drank in her appearance. The still bushy brown hair, the nibbling of her bottom lip to show her concentration and the ever present book in her hands. Ever since she learned to read she had always kept a book of some type with her. He practically had to steal it from her once to get her to notice him and have some fun playing. Sirius had once joked that the worse punishment someone could give Hermione was to lock all the books in one room and to never let her go into it. He smiled as remembered that Hermione had promptly kicked his godfather in the shins for even suggesting it, though she still remembered to have fun and act like a child more often. Even in her soon to be eight year old self, she was still the woman he loved.

Grinning mischievously to no one in particular, he decided to heed his own advice and act like a kid. A quick swish and flick had Hermione slowly and gently begin to float out of her chair. She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn't even notice. When he had he five feet in the air in slowly begin to float her over the ground. He didn't even notice as Sirius came walking up to him until he spoke. "Ooo, nice one pup. You know she's going to be furious if you go through with it, right?" Still with a big grin on his face he nodded to his godfather. Sirius chuckled softly before adding, "Well, if you want to minimize the damage she'll do to you, make sure nothing happens to her book. That may be enough to let you walk again after a day or two."

Harry turned to Padfoot and winked at him. He flicked his wand again, summoning the book to him. The beginning shouts of "Hey!" turned to a startled squeak of surprise as Hermione realized she was floating in the air. Then came the expected scream of, "HARRY JAMES POTTER YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Harry raised his eyebrow at Hermione, turned to his godfather and shrugged before canceling the charm. The yelp of surprise lasted a bare second before she landed in the pool.

Hermione broke the surface of the water spluttering in indignation to see Sirius and Harry rolling on the ground clutching their ribs. They were laughing so hard there were tears coming from their eyes. They were laughing so hard they didn't notice Hermione pull her own shrunken staff from her wrist holster. They were laughing so hard they didn't notice as she began levitating them over the pool. They weren't laughing after she canceled the charm and both gave a squawk of shock before they landed in the pool with her. She gave them both a wicked grin of her own when they surfaced before waving her wand making a giant wave form to dunk them both again.

**A/N Wow! I couldn't believe it when I first checked. Over 1,000 of you wonderful readers viewed the beginnings of my story in the first week alone! Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this!**

**I tried so very hard to make this a longer chapter just to show my appreciation. I'm not entirely happy with it but as this was only meant to be a filler chapter for some background there was only so much extra I could add before I felt that it just started to ramble.**

**I will admit to being a little disappointed. All those people that read this story and only 16 reviews? Even those 16 reviews had a few of the same people reviewing more than once. Come on readers! Reviews make me happy and give me warm fuzzies! Plus I'd really like to know what more people think. So please, please, PLEASE leave a review!**

**Next up is what people have been waiting for, I hope. Hogwarts letters and the start of school!**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't, I don't. I make no claims to the Harry Potter universe, it belongs to JKR. What you recognize is hers, what you don't is either mine or you've been living under a rock for years.

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 5**

Harry rolled over in his bed, coming slowly awake to begin his day. A most important day, he thought. Depending on the person he thought it would either be very good or very bad. September 12th, Hermione's birthday, her _eleventh_ birthday. The day she was going to get her Hogwarts letter. The two of them had come to terms with what may happen today. Their parents had taken pains to explain it to them multiple times since they were six. Harry marveled every time he thought about his Hermione. They were quite comfortable around each other now. His dad, Padfoot and Moony had teased the couple about how they already acted liked they were married anyways, always spending time together, holding hands and chaste kisses. When one of them was worried or distressed the other would soon be by their side to give comfort and support.

While Harry padded to his bathroom to begin his morning routine, he thought once more about all his preparations for when school started. All of the children had begun to be taught by the magical adults about magic when they turned six. Harry was a little worried about it actually. Despite his and Hermiones' best efforts, they simply could not perform spells beyond fourth year. His mum and dad had explained that their cores were not developed enough yet. Harry was worried about this solely because of his Patronus that he had cast in his third year. He had thought that if he had managed a spell that most full grown wizards could not do then he would have thought he could manage most any spells before he started Hogwarts. Unfortunately, when he tried in secret to cast a Patronus, he found that he couldn't. Despite the fact that he _knew_ he could, and in fact _had_ done it before, he was forced to accept the adults explanations.

So, while his dad taught them transfiguration, Remus taught defense, astronomy and care of magical creatures, Sirius taught them ancient runes and probably most surprising, history. It was his mum's classes that they got the most out of though. She taught charms, potions and arithmancy. Even though they couldn't advance beyond fourth year charms, they could progress as far as they wanted with potions and arithmancy. Lily thought they might actually almost be ready to start their mastery before even entering school because there was no _silly wand waving_ as Snape once called it. They were not quite that close with runes because of the simple fact that it took and adult to charge the sequences before they would work but Sirius thought that they were close enough on the theory that they might be able to get an exceeds or maybe even an outstanding on their NEWTS.

People would begin arriving in a few hours for the party. Only a select few people could enter the wards of Potter Manor nowadays. Neville Longbottom and his Gran were on the list because Lily was Neville's godmother. His Gran thought it was a good idea to spend time with children his own age and Harry could see the changes from the Neville he knew before. This Neville was not the shy, insecure boy of before. Instead, he was his own person, not afraid to argue, _rationally and logically _as Hermione had drilled into them, for what he wanted. His Gran, the Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom, was claiming that he was turning into a fine young man just like his father. You could actually see him straighten a little and see the pride in his eyes whenever he heard that comment.

Amelia and Susan Bones were also added because Amelia was Alyssa's godmother and because she spent a lot of time at work she thought that Susan needed company of other children as well. Susan had caused Hannah Abbot to be added so she could spend time with her friends as well as her first friend whenever they wanted. The one was almost a constant fixture there and Hannah would spend every other or every third day there as well.

The Lovegoods were also added for similar reasons but with the addition of Lily having Selene Lovegood, Luna's mother, for spell crafting help. This had the added benefit of Lily catching the mistake that had caused Selene's death in the previous timeline. Xeno was still as wonky as Harry remembered but Luna was not quite as _ethereal_ now that her mother was still around to keep her grounded. She was still a little more out there than other children and Harry was sure this would still cause her to end up with the nickname of Loony when she went to school from the more hurtful people there. All in all though she was much more laid back and less prone to talk about creatures that only she could see around other people. She now had the benefit of many friends that she didn't have before.

Harry was talking to his mum after lunch, making sure the special arrangements he asked for his present to Hermione were taken care of. Suddenly a shriek came from the living room and they both ran out, drawing wands as they went. They came to a stop when they entered to see Hermione jumping up and down squealing, actually _squealing_ Harry thought in amusement, with her Hogwarts letter clutched to her chest.

"It came! It came! It came!" She was practically dancing around the room and twirling in her excitement. When she actually calmed down enough to read the letter, at Lily and Harry's prompting of course. Her face turned from surprised excitement to loving adoration as she ran her fingers across the addressed name on the envelope. She looked up to Harry with a smile on her face. "Well, it's official then." She walked over to him and showed him the envelope. There, written in emerald green ink were the words that only Harry knew for sure would be there. "Mrs Hermione J. Potter" Harry knew that the letters were generated automatically by the magic that was set up when Hogwarts was founded. He also knew that over the centuries the task of mailing the letters was designated to the school's house elves as soon as they were created so he knew the secret was still safe until they actually went to Hogwarts.

Hermione looked to Harry's face and saw the smile that was there as he looked at the letter. His smile changed to worry though when he looked to her. "You're not mad at me, are you? I mean, you know that I love you and all. But I basically took away your choice of marrying whoever you wanted to. I'm not sorry it happened but I still think you should have had a choice in the matter." She watched as he rambled on in his apology, the worry still plain on his face thinking that she would be mad at him and that she wouldn't want him. She loved that he would care so much about her feelings on this.

"Harry," she interrupted his ramblings. "You know that I love you too." She reached up and touched his cheek. She watched as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the simple touch, leaning his head into her hand and a contented smile coming to his face. She loved that she could do that to him with such a simple touch. "While I do think that we're awfully young to be married," she began and watched his eyes fly open in fear of being rejected by her. "I couldn't imagine spending my life without you in it. You've been my best friend since we were babies and it's not like we didn't know that this could happen. You make me happy when I'm sad. You comfort me when I'm hurt. You protect me when I'm in danger and you take care of me when I'm sick. From all of my understandings of marriage, that's exactly how it's supposed to be. I love you Mr Potter." She leaned forward and gave his lips a chaste kiss before pulling him into one her famous, bone crushing, comforting and what Harry had dubbed a Hermi-hug.

"I love you too, Mrs Potter," she heard him whisper softly in her ear. The soft breath of his words caressing her neck sent shivers down her spine while the words _Mrs Potter_ exploded in her brain bringing a smile to her lips. She opened her eyes to see Lily still standing in the doorway with a smile on her lips.

She let go of Harry and walked over to her mother-in-law. She opened her arms for a hug to the older woman before smiling at her and saying, "Hi Mum."

You could see the tears forming in Lily's eyes before she took the last step and engulfed her daughter-in-law in a hug. "Welcome to the family officially," she gave an extra squeeze and added softly, "daughter."

~~oOoOo~~

Hermione's party had been a smashing success, as usual. They had a grand time between presents, dinner, and a mixture of muggle and wizard party games. Sirius had brought a surprise guest, Hestia Jones, announcing that they had been dating now for the past year. Well, it was a surprise for the kids at least. The adults had known about her for awhile, especially since James' had had to allow her access to the grounds. Harry had found that he quite enjoyed Hestia's company. She was almost as big a kid as Sirius was but with enough adult responsibility that she could keep him grounded and reign in his more impulsive tendencies. He was pleasantly surprised to find out she was the elder sister of Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies, something he suspected but was not able to confirm in his last life, _first life? Original life?_ he still got a headache whenever he tried to define his _other _life. Anyway, she was great fun to be around and he was happy that Sirius had found someone special enough to share his life with.

As the party wound down and all the guests began to leave, Harry drifted closer to his Hermione. He was pleasantly, although not completely, surprised to find that by the time the last guest left he was holding Hermione's hand. He glanced over to his mother with a raised eyebrow, to which she gave a small nod of her head. He smiled and turned to his, confirmed now, wife, before asking. "Would you like your last present now?"

Hermione turned to him with a shocked expression. "You didn't have to!" she began immediately. "The present you got me was more than enough!" She was stunned as her Harry, _Her Harry? When did she start thinking of him like that?_ turned her around and led her further into the manor. "Really, Harry, that omni book was the best gift I could have ever received!" It really was, she thought. Harry had given her a book that could duplicate whatever book was in the Potter Manor library just by a touch from the list of the available texts. The library itself was extensive. Apparently, sometime in the past, one of the Potters had agreed to finance publishing companies with the sole stipulation that a copy of any book that came off their press, whether it was a new or revised, ended up in the Potter library. Lily had taken it a step further and extended it to muggle books as well, once she had seen the library and heard the explanation. Due to the space expansion charms on the room, it was five times the size of the Hogwarts library and still growing. The book itself had taken a little of her blood to key her into it so that only her and Harry would be able to read from it.

Hermione was lost in her daze and didn't even realize it when they had entered the ballroom of the house. Harry smiled to himself and nodded to his mother, a flick of her wand and music began to play. "May I have this dance, Mrs Potter?" he asked formally, bowing at the waist and extending his hand to her. She broke from her daze and smiled what Harry thought was her most beatific smile before curtseying and extending her hand to him. _He learned to dance for me! _was the only thought that was running through her head at the moment. Slowly waltzing around the dance floor she began to bring her thoughts back to her normal analytical mode. "I thought you didn't know how to dance, _husband_?" she asked, placing special emphasis on the last word so he would know what she meant to him.

She watched as Harry smiled. "I asked mum to start teaching me a few months ago. I wanted to surprise you on your birthday if it was true. After all," he gave her a wicked grin that left her heart fluttering a few beats faster. "Isn't it traditional for the husband and wife to have their first dance together?" Her heart melted and she pulled him closer, enjoying the dance that was just between the two of them. Giggling from her husbands' brothers and sisters caused her to open her eyes and see that they were not alone in their dancing. Her mother and father, along with her mother and father-in-law had also started to dance around the floor. Leaning close to her Harry breathed in her ear, "Happy Birthday, Mrs Potter."

~~oOoOo~~

Harry and Hermione had all their things packed and were standing in front of the barrier to platform nine and three quarters. Harry had planned for this day based on Luna's more lucid moments. "She's convinced that she'll marry you one day, Harry. Nothing I say will dissuade her from it." And so they were waiting on the muggle side of the barrier to the train platform. His parents were disillusioned and standing off to the side, not far enough away that they could miss general conversation but not so close that they could hear private discussions between Harry and Hermione.

"Here we go," he whispered to Hermione as he heard the far off call. _"Packed with muggles of course. Now, what's the platform number again?" _The answering young voice of, _"Nine and three quarters, mum." _Harry rolled his eyes at this and Hermione tried her best to stifle a giggle. The two had approached the barrier when Molly Weasly spotted them.

"Hello dears, Hogwarts too? Ron's just starting as well." Harry just couldn't miss the gleam in her eyes when she started talking to him. He supposed that even though he'd been in seclusion word had still leaked out about him. "Oh my goodness! You're Harry Potter aren't you?" It was only because he was looking for it that he could recognize the hungry gleam in her eyes. "Forgive me," she said with false pleasantness. "Introductions are in order. I'm Molly Weasly," gesturing to her eldest she continued. "My eldest attending Hogwarts Percy," she waved a hand towards him. "He's in his fifth year and a prefect, don't you know." Harry turned towards Hermione and rolled his eyes. "Fred and George, my twins," she gestured once again to her children. "This is Ron and his sister Ginny," she proclaimed as if it was of great importance.

Harry couldn't help but notice that she pushed her daughter more towards the front. He really wanted to believe better of Molly, really he did. Instead he relegated himself towards the introductions. "Pleased to meet you," he stated as he extended his hand toward her. "I'm Harry Potter, and may I introduce my wife, the Lady Hermione Jean Potter?" as he pulled her next to him.

To be generous, he did notice the disbelieving look on Molly's face, along with the hurt on Ginny's. She recovered quickly while surreptitiously glancing around to see that there were no adults around him. "Don't be silly, Harry!" she exclaimed. "You're eleven, you can't possibly be married now," while trying to make sure her daughter was front and center in his line of sight.

Harry let his face conform to shock then surprise and finally sorrow. "I'm so sorry madam," he replied, trying to force genuine pity into his voice. "It must be such a terrible shock to you," he continued, still in his sad voice. Then he continued, "May I ask how long you've been ill?"

The shock once again appeared on her face. "Ill?" she asked incredulously. "I'm not ill!" she exclaimed, once again surprise gave way to the shock on her face.

"Then you conveniently forgot about the Statute of Secrecy?" he pondered for moment. "Or maybe you forgot that you have already been to Hogwarts or maybe that you already have two children that have already graduated. Perhaps you forgot that you already have three children that are already attending Hogwarts. Perhaps that is the reason why you are walking through a _muggle_ area and talking in such a loud voice about _muggles_, or asking about a platform that clearly doesn't exist to _muggles_. I find that it is the only explanation that you are suffering from dementia to explain your actions. Otherwise you wouldn't be trying to break the Statute." He glanced behind him to see Percy standing there agog and the twins trying desperately to stifle their laughter.

He watched as Molly Weasly drew herself up in indignation. "I'm _not _suffering from dementia!" she practically screamed it at him. "I'm perfectly aware of where I am and what I have been doing!"

"Of course you are madam," he began in an apologetic tone. "So, if you are not suffering from dementia then you are perfectly aware of the possibility of a soul bond?"

"Of course!"

"Then, of course, you are aware of how this beautiful young lady beside me would be considered my wife then?" He pulled Hermione closer to him at this point. He caught Molly's gob smacked expression and also the resigned look on Ginny's face. He squared his shoulders and glared at Molly before continuing. "So how then, could you possibly think I wouldn't know that I was already married unless you were suffering from some form of senility? And of course, you already know," he began for Ginny's benefit, "that no one can come between a soul bonded couple? There is no potion or spell or any other form of separation and that to even try is a life sentence in Azkaban?"

He took in her shocked expression and waited for a reply. Noticing that a reply was not forthcoming he turned on his heel and walked toward the barrier, Hermione at his side. Where she was always meant to be.

~~oOoOo~~

The trip was the same as he remembered, with the noticeable exclusion of Ron Weasly trying to ingratiate himself with him again. He found an empty compartment for the two of them. Eventually it filled with his friends Neville, Susan and Hannah. Of course, no train ride would be complete without the interruption of Draco _I'm entitled to everything _Malfoy trying to assert his non existent dominance.

"Go away bad faith. I don't want to hear whatever it is you merchant mouth is selling." Harry could see him turning red as his anger boiled. He noticed calmly as Malfoy reached for his wand to use something on his wife. He knew she was the target, she was always a _mudblood_ in Draco's eyes. A flick of Harry's wand and the red of anger on his face turned quickly to the white of pain before he squeaked in pain and fell out of their cabin. The obligatory, "When my father…" was cut off by his reply. "Yes, you go and tell your father what happens when you insult an heir of a _Most Ancient_ and _Most Noble_ family. I'll be surprised if he doesn't kill you himself for the shame you'd bring on your own family _merchant!_" Harry settled back into his seat and wrapped his arms around his beautiful wife. "It's time you learned to respect your betters Bad Faith. Either you learn your own lesson or I'll be happy to teach it to you." He turned to Hermione with a questioning look, "I can still challenge him to an honor duel, can't I? Is that still on the books or did it get changed? I can never keep track of all the idiotic laws they pass."

Hermione tried to suppress her giggles, she really and truly tried. A few managed to escape before her reply though. "Yes, it's still a law that you can do that. Try not to kill him before we even get to school though, it might look bad on any future job applications."

"No promises," he replied. He turned his face to Malfoy and gave him his options. "What say you Bad Faith? Would you like to settle your insult to the Lady Potter with a duel, or are you content to offer an apology?" A muttered apology and retreat later and it was once again calm in their cabin. "I really _hate_ trying to pull that old family crap. Why can't everyone just be normal for a change. Why do there even have to be old families and new families? Can't it just be families period?"

~~oOoOo~~

The sorting continued the same as it had. Hannah and Sue went to Hufflepuff. Neville went to Gryffindor. Malfoy went to Slytherin with his thugs Crabbe and Goyle. The only thing that really changed so far was that Hermione's name wasn't called before Harry's. As Harry walked up to the stool with the sorting hat he could feel the multiple brushes wash over his Occlumency shields. _Dumbledore, Snape and Quirrell, like clockwork they are, _he thought as the sorting hat was placed on his head and he felt it try to read his mind.

"_Ahh, young Potter, so nice to see you again."_

"_Hello Adrian. It's been a long time. I've missed our talks, my friend."_

"_Judging by your memories of our talks I would have to agree with you. I do hope that you will take the time for us to get reacquainted."_

"_But of course. Have Fawkes bring you round whenever you feel like a chat. Just make sure I'm alone is all."_

"_Of course. So, same as last time or would you like to try something different?"_

"_The same, if you please. Although I would like some changes this time around if it's not too much trouble. Three changes to be precise."_

"_If it's within my power then I will help, of course."_

"_First then. This years class. Ron Weasly, he needs to grow up and learn some loyalty. Hufflepuff would be the ideal place for him. Maybe this time he wouldn't be such a prat."_

"_Agreed. I can see from your memories how this would help him."_

"_Second and third. Next years class. Luna Lovegood will need her friends. Gryffindor is best for her this time around. Ginny Weasly, don't really care which house you send her too, just keep that stalker away from me."_ He could almost feel the mental chuckle from the hat at this last request.

"_I will do my best."_

"_Also, and this isn't really a request. If my wife is still a Gryffindor I would appreciate the same house for again for her. I love her enough to want to keep her close."_

"_Naturally."_

And so, with the exceptions of the first of three changes he requested, Harry's days at Hogwarts had begun anew.

~~oOoOo~~

Harry had planned for this, his first prank before they could prank him.

With the Marauders help, he had been supplied with a new, upgraded version of the Marauders Map. He marveled at it continuously. _Geniuses, mad geniuses, all three of them. _The new map contained command and control functions. These allowed him to isolate single or multiple people he was searching for on the map. It also contained personality charms. These charms allowed him to ask questions and get various responses based on the knowledge of the three of them. All in the guise of their Marauder names of course.

He had been watching patiently. Waiting for the perfect setup. Finally he had it. The twins were coming towards them and McGonagall was a corridor behind them, still within easy listening distance.

As he held Hermione's hand and walked down the hallway towards the twins, he cleared the map and stuffed it into his pocket. Soon he saw them approach.

"Here he is, brother mine," said one.

"Indeed it's he."

"Doesn't look like support for them, does it?"

"I don't see any."

Harry had talked about this with Hermione beforehand, she knew what to do. "What on Earth are you two talking about?"

"We heard what he said to mum."

"Big brass ones on him you think?"

"Maybe gold or platinum even," the other twin nodded sagely.

"So we thought"

"We'd introduce ourselves"

"To the one that could"

"Stop mum cold," they finished together.

Harry had watched the infamous twin speak, moving his head back and forth between the two. He began to purposefully hyperventilate himself, his breath coming fast and shallow.

"Is he"

"Alright?"

The twins began to draw closer. Harry, still trying to hyperventilate himself, kept the act going until the critical moment. As one of them reached a hand out to steady him he gave Hermione the agreed upon signal, a slight squeeze of the hand, before letting out a scream of pure terror.

"WEASLY TWINS! FLAMING HAIRED DEMON DEVILS! STAY BACK!"

This of course had a two fold affect, exactly like they'd hoped. First, the twins jumped back in surprise. Second, Professor McGonagall came running up to them. "Mr Potter! What is the meaning of this?"

Harry spun around to face her and at the same time pointed back towards the twins. "WEASLY TWINS! FLAMING HAIRED DEMON DEVILS! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"

Admittedly, trying for a state of terror and panic as a joke made it really hard to keep the smile from his face but somehow he managed it.

"Mr Potter! I am quite sure there is nothing wrong! Stop making a spectacle in the middle of the hallway!"

Harry tried, he really _really_ tried to let more horror show on his face. Whether he was successful or not was left open to debate. "YOU'RE WITH THEM! THE DEMON DEVILS HAVE CORRUPTED YOU!" He grabbed the professor by her hand and spun her back into the twins, trying, _he hoped,_ to project someone protecting their loved one. He then pulled Hermione along, running as fast as he could, back to the tower. Leaving the twins and head of Gryffindor House in a heap in the middle of the hallway. He didn't let his mask slip until he had reached the safety of the common room where they both fell into heaps of laughter in each others arms.

**A/N So there it is. One more chapter. I really hoped you all liked it. Thank you all for the reviews. They are all very much appreciated. If you don't want to send me a review you can always send me a PM to let me know what you think. I would also just like to throw out that I am STILL looking for a beta for this story. If any of you wonderful readers are interested in that role, feel free to send me a PM.**

**As always reviews are welcome! They help me be a better writer which in turn makes a better story for you readers!**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: What I own, I own. What I don't, I don't. I make no claims to the Harry Potter universe, it belongs to JKR. What you recognize is hers, what you don't is either mine or you've been living under a rock for years.

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 6**

Harry and Hermione were relaxing on the couch in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, seemingly studying books on things they already knew about. It was all rather pointless, doubly so for Harry. Not only had he and Hermione been learning these things for the past five years but Harry had the added knowledge of what he most optimistically thought was close to a millennium of study. As such, they were the first in class to perform every spell correctly. They didn't have to look up very much information, if any at all, to complete their homework. And the only time they really spent any time with books was to study ahead of what they learned from their family.

Hermione sighed and closed her book. "This is boring, Harry. I wish we could have just stayed at home and kept on learning that way." She leaned back in the couch and laid her head on Harry's shoulder. "What are we supposed to do for the next seven years?"

He put his shoulder around her and pulled her close while he tried to think of the best way to respond. "I don't know, Hermione. We could practice our spells. Try to get things above fourth year. We could just have fun, maybe pull some pranks on Malfoy. We still have to get our meditation done for our animagus forms though." He said this with a conspiratorial whisper and small smile.

On their eleventh birthdays, after much pleading and begging on their part. James, Sirius and Lily had agreed to let them try the animagus revealing potion, just to see if they even had forms. That had been a shock to the adults when they revealed having not one, but two forms each. Both of them were large black panthers and some type of bird that they hadn't found the name of yet. Due to the nature of the potion, the forms that are revealed aren't always clear, not really hard to misidentify a very large black cat though. The birds were a little less clear though, not quite enough to properly identify beyond the most basic. The closest that they could come at the moment was between some type of hawk or falcon. The adults were trying to figure out why they had two forms though. The current prevailing theory was that it had something to do with their bond. Seeing as how they were bonded it would stand that they shared forms with Harry being the male version and Hermione being the female. To their best guess, it seemed that the personalities were sufficiently different for the form to not be compatible. They supposed that the panther was Hermione's and the bird was Harry's and the bond allowed them to switch between the two.

Since the animagus change was prevalent on internal magic and just needed there to be magic present and not developed to any certain point, they were told that it would just be a matter of mental discipline to perform the change the first time. This led to their meditation which was slowly but surely bearing fruit. Hermione, being the oldest of the two and therefore practicing longer, was currently able to changes her fingernails into claws but that was it. Harry was only able to add some fur to his face. Sirius had laughed loudly at that, immediately proclaiming him to be a midget version of James with a five o'clock shadow, Harry had sent a stinging hex to his backside for that comment.

Harry looked up and around the room to see if anything was available to take their interest. His eyes immediately fell onto the twins huddled in a corner pouring over a very familiar piece of parchment. The twins had instantly become friends due to the prank in the hallway. Even more so because it involved Professor McGonagall. More impressively that they didn't get in any trouble for it, of course that was due to their prodigious acting ability. _Really, _Harry thought to himself. _Who is Minerva going to fault? Two _obviously _terrified first years that had been in the castle less than two weeks. Or three well known pranksters of her acquaintance that had _obviously _been telling tall tales to impressionable young minds?_ _Almost too easy to get away with that one._

"Want to have some fun with the twins? Looks as though they found Dad's old map," he nodded slightly towards the corner. Hermione glanced around before a smile came over her face and she nodded back to Harry. Raising his voice slightly Harry called them over, "Hey, Devil Demons! Come on over here for a minute!" Harry watched as they cleared the map before joining them on another couch.

"You bellowed Harry?" they questioned in unison for a change.

He nodded to them. "I was just wondering what you were doing with that old thing over in the corner."

"This?" twin one asked as he pulled out the map.

"Just a spare bit of parchment," added the other.

Faster than they could blink Harry pulled his wand and touched it to the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The shocked look they sported made Harry and Hermione smile to each other as the map revealed itself. They glanced first at the map, then Harry and Hermione and then each other before the process repeated again. It took a half dozen cycles before one of them asked, "How in the name of Merlin's sweaty Y-fronts do you know about that?"

Harry chuckled before he answered, "I told you, it's old. Was wondering why you're using it."

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Greatest invention of theirs that we've ever found."

"Helped us out of a right sticky spot more than a few times it has," twin one nodded to his brother.

"Ah," Harry nodded sagely. "Easy to please pranksters you are then." At their affronted look Hermione pulled her own parchment out of her pocket before putting it on the table between the four. Harry placed his wand to the parchment and again intoned, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The twins leaned forward to look at ink that was spreading over the parchment in eerily familiar yet slightly different words.

_Messrs Midnight, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs_

_In conjunction with_

_Mss Flamebird and Pounce_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_Are proud to present_

The Marauder's Map

V 2.0

"Bloody hell!" exclaimed twin two.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Language George," Hermione reprimanded.

"I'm not George, he is!" George exclaimed, pointing at his brother.

A scathing look from Hermione had George fidgeting in his seat until her reply. "No, you're George, he's Fred. Don't ever try to pull that on us again because we can _always _tell you apart." Harry nodded his head in support.

"How can you?" asked Fred

"Not even our family can do that!" exclaimed George.

Harry grinned at this, "That would be telling wouldn't it?" Harry and Hermione's laughter at their perplexed looks was enough to know that they wouldn't be able to get away with confusing these two anymore.

"So where'd you get this version then?" Fred asked again, desperately seeking an answer. "And how come it's got different names on it than our version?"

"In answer to your first question, we got it from the creators," Hermione replied in her lecture voice. "In answer to your second question," she paused here to formulate her reply before continuing. "The three names you don't recognize became Marauders after your map was created. Wormtail was removed because of betrayal to the group and is never talked about in their presence." Harry nodded along with her explanation.

"You know them?" Fred asked.

"Can you introduce us?" asked George at almost the same time.

"They're our heroes!" the both exclaimed.

Harry and Hermione giggled at their antics. "We'll pass along the request when next we meet with them," Harry answered. He then touched his wand to the map again and intoned, "Command and control access requested."

The lines on the map vanished to be replaced with the question, "_Access Identification?" _

"Alpha Zero One," Harry replied still keeping his wand in contact with the map.

"_Authenticating…Access Granted. Function?"_

"Isolate and pinpoint."

"_Name?"_

"Minerva McGonagall." Harry removed his wand from the map and opened it. Instead of the normal map that showed on Fred and George's version it showed a hallway with a single dot on it labeled Minerva McGonagall. Underneath the name was the words, _"Seventh floor. West Wing." _Harry touched his wand to the map again and intoned, "Clear. New query. Fred and George Weasley." The twins watched as the lines vanished to show two dots close together with the words under their names, _"Gryffindor Common Room."_

They looked at the twins who were practically drooling into their own laps as they watched the new map. "Wicked! What else can it do?"

Harry glanced at Hermione who nodded. He placed his wand back on the map, "Mischief Managed." Then gestured towards her.

Hermione drew her own wand and activated the map. "Command and control access requested."

"_Access Identification?"_

"Alpha Two Zero One."

"_Authenticating…Access Granted. Function?"_

"Personality matrix." The words suddenly cleared before being replaced with new ones.

"_Messr Prongs would like to welcome Hermione to our humble domain."_

"_Messr Padfoot would also like to welcome Hermione and ask her what took so long?"_

"_Messr Moony would like to humbly offer his assistance with any problems Hermione might be having."_

"_Messr Midnight would also like to offer his assistance and wonders what color knickers Hermione has on right now."_

"_Mss Flamebird offers her greetings and reminds the men folk to be nice to the children."_

"_Mss Pounce promises that she will smack the men folk at her earliest opportunity."_

"You can talk to them?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's not really them. It's just their personalities. Kind of like how enchanted portraits work but without the portrait part."

"_Messr Padfoot would like to express his disappointment with that part and state that it should be a crime that no one is allowed to gaze upon his dashing good looks."_

"_Mss Pounce would like to point out that if his looks were that good he wouldn't need to hide behind words in the first place."_

"_Messr Moony would like to offer his condolences to Messr Padfoot for being rejected yet again."_

"_Mss Flamebird is still wondering how the Marauders may help Hermione at this time."_

Hermione smiled at all the byplay. "Just a demonstration to two up and coming pranksters who found your original map. Showing them what the improved version can do."

"_Messr Prongs is always happy to help new pranksters and reminds Hermione that she is always welcome anytime."_

"_Messr Padfoot is also happy to be of service and wishes the two pranksters luck in trying to surpass our legacy."_

"_Messr Midnight would also like to let Hermione know that he will always be here for her and is also still wondering what color knickers she has on."_

Hermione rolls her eyes at the last one. "For Merlin's sake Midnight! They're white! All right? Are you happy now?"

"_Messr Midnight would like to say that he is most pleased with the information."_

Hermione huffed in exasperation before muttering, "Mischief managed." The map cleared again. "Anyone can use this map if they know the password but we're the only two in the school that can use the command and control functions. It's password protected and keyed to our magical signatures. There are lots of other functions imbedded into this map, maybe one day we'll share some others with you, in exchange for services rendered of course." She smirked at this last part, dangling the bait in front of them.

Fred and George looked to each other than back to her. "What services?" You could see the hungry gleam in their eyes.

Harry answered for her. "Pranks, of course. Which ones will be determined later and at which time." They both knew that they might need some help to pull off some of the larger pranks they had planned. The twins would fill that roll nicely. "It won't just be a one time thing though. If we just need a lookout for something, that won't get us to reveal any of our secrets. Say maybe a half dozen or dozen times of doing that might get us to reveal something. Help with planning or inventions to use might be worth a glimpse though."

Both twins gave winning smiles before sticking out their hands to Harry and Hermione to shake. "Deal!"

~~oOoOo~~

_Stupid! Incompetent! Bloody Wanker! _Harry was cursing silently to himself as he made his way through the hidden opening of the Chamber of Secrets.

_Can't even be a normal hideout, can it? Noooo, has to be in the dankest, darkest, DIRTIEST part of the freaking castle. _His internal fuming continued while he made his way towards the final door. _Be a disgrace to Dark Lords everywhere. He must have missed out at the last Dark Lord convention where they passed out the handbooks._

Harry chuckled to himself as he pictured a large conference room filled with Dark Lords for an annual meeting.

"_Next petition for membership in this august body and seeking the title of Dark Lord, one Voldemort, currently of England. Prospective member has verifiable murders, tortures, rapes, and burning of villages along with the obligatory sycophantic followers."_

"_Objection! I see no where in the applicants history that shows that he has successfully taken over any legitimate government of any country in the world!"_

"_Quite correct Dark Lord Badbreath! All in favor of dismissing this application say Aye."_

Smiling to himself he tried to picture another conversation with them sitting in a the hotels bar.

"_Just killed my three thousandth victim yesterday!"_

"_Bully for you, old bean! I remember my own three thousandth, seems like only yesterday when I tortured her to death with the Cruciatus."_

"_You young upstarts these days! Back when I first started we didn't have anything as simple as the Cruciatus! No, we had to actually get our hands dirty exploding our victims, or watching them shrivel to husks. Don't even get me started on your fancy Apparition! Had to take brooms to the nearest village for a bit of sport! Merlin help you if you made a wrong turn from the shortage of compasses. End up traveling for days to find another village just to turn around and take a few more days to get back to our hideouts!"_

Harry was actually chuckling to himself when he opened the final door. Ridiculous scenes playing out in his mind. He walked up to the statue of Slytherin and called out to the Basilisk inside in parseltoungue.

"_Hello in there! Are you awake?"_

"_A speaker? Here? It has been so long."_

"_If you promise not to kill me with your gaze I can let you out to stretch your…well, yourself. I also have some food here if you're hungry"_

"_You are a speaker. My gaze can not harm you, only my venom."_

"_Well, do you promise not to bite me then?"_

"_Agreed."_

Harry spoke the words to open the statues mouth and watched as the basilisk came out. He then pulled several bags out of his robes and set them on the floor. Carefully emptying them out, the shrinking and stasis charms were released revealing over a hundred sheep, cows and goats that he had purchased from farms over the months before school started.

"_Here you go. My name is Harry, by the way. What's your name?"_

"_Silva."_

"_Nice name," _Harry replied. _"May I ask a favor of you, or do I have to make it a command?"_

"_I see. Another that wants to control me."_

"_No! It's more like one command with two continuations with it."_

"_What is your command?"_

"_Just that, until the day I die, you will never obey anyone other than me. I swear, I will never make you do any thing that you don't want to do. That is just so another speaker can not control you for bad things. I will place a crystal tied to my life in your home so you will know when I die."_

"_Agreed. Your continuations?"_

"_First, that you will never harm a teacher or student of this school unless it is to save others from harm. Second, that you continue to protect the school itself."_

"_Those were my orders from the first speaker. I will follow them."_

"_I only brought this food so you could regain your strength. I will reopen the tunnel into the forest so that you may hunt for yourself when you wish. Please do not harm the centaurs. There is a very big colony of Acromantulas in there since last you have been awake."_

"_Thank you, Harry"_

"_You're welcome, Silva. Would it be all right if I return from time to time for a talk or to keep you company?"_

"_I would like that. I have not had anyone that would just like to talk since the first speaker."_

"_Until the next time then. Good hunting." _Harry bowed to his new friend and strode out of the chamber.

On his walk back to the common room he began going over his plans in his head. _Take care of the Basilisk before next year. Check. Horcruxes: Locket, check, diadem, check, ring, check, diary won't be available till next year. Hopefully I can get that one before school even starts, if not I'll have to steal it from Ginny's things when she's not around. Cup, hmmm, still not sure how to go about that one. Maybe just tell the goblins? How would I be able to let them know without giving anything away? Going to have to come up with a plan for that one. Nagini's going to be trouble. Don't know where she is or if she was turned into a horcrux when he was still alive or after he came back. Probably going to have to hunt her down just to make sure. Fourth year will be the key. If she is one then he'll come back and still get me into the thrice damned tournament. If she's not then I'll destroy them all after the champions are chosen._

Nodding to himself as he entered the common room he looked around and saw Hermione in the sofa by the fire reading a book. He walked quietly up behind her and bent down till his lips were close to her ear. "Anything interesting Mrs Potter?"

Hermione, deeply immersed in her book, _Dueling with Charms Alone, _let out a scream and fell out of the sofa. She jumped to her feet with her wand drawn only to see Harry laughing at her from the floor. "Harry James Potter! What do you think you were doing? You nearly gave me heart failure!"

Harry was trying to regain his breath. "It was funny to me."

Hermione huffed indignantly, returned her wand to her holster and picked up her book. She walked over to where Harry was still on the floor trying to calm himself. She stood by his head, raised the thick book to shoulder height, then dropped it on him.

"OW! What the bloody hell was that for?"

She gave him a evil grin and replied innocently, "It was funny to me." She then held out a hand and helped him to his feet. Once he was steady and finished rubbing the bump on his forehead he looked to her. Just in time watch as her hand smacked him in the back of the head. "And that was for your language."

"I'll get you for that Mrs Potter."

"In your dreams Mr Potter." She stuck her tongue out at him and then ran up the stairs giggling before he could retaliate by starting one of their pillow fights.

**A/N So there it is. Chapter 6, hope you all enjoyed it. Let me just say thank you to the over 7,300 people that have read this story since I first started it, the 75 people that marked it as a favorite, and the 109 people that asked for an alert on it. YOU PEOPLE ROCK!**

**As always, reviews are welcome, even the bad ones. I'd also like to point out again that I'm still looking for a Beta so if any of you are interested please send me a PM.**

**Until next time people!**


	7. Chapter 7

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 7**

A/N What you recognize is mine. What you don't is either JKR's or you've been living under a rock for years.

**A/N 2 I sincerely apologize to everyone that has been reading this story. I did note in one of my earlier AN's that update's would be sporadic. I just never thought it would be this long between updates. I will only say that working two full time jobs six days a week is not really conducive for writing. Maybe you can convince JKR to pay me and I can update faster?**

_What, in the name of Merlin's drooping bottoms, am I thinking?_

Harry stared at the equations, hellishly complicated, and ran through his options again.

_To give, or not to give, that is the question._

Harry stared at the completed equations it had taken him almost ten years to complete. An idea born from the need of someone to understand him completely. It was always intended for his Hermione, but now that it was finished he couldn't help but doubt himself. He had always felt like part of himself was missing. Yes, he had his bond with his wife again, but she wasn't really _his_ wife. At least, not the way he remembered her.

Hermione walked into the common room of Gryffindor Tower and stopped to look at _her _husband. He was sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace, his hands running through his hair in a gesture she had come to recognize as frustration, staring at the piles of parchment in front of him. She could tell he was struggling with something, she had seen the signs too many times over the years to not be able to identify it on sight. _This is going to be a problem. I just know it. _She sighed to herself and walked over to him. "What seems to be the problem, Mr Potter?"

Harry raised his head and looked at his wife for a long moment before patting the empty space next to him, indicating she should sit down. Once she had settled he let out a great sigh of frustration. "You see all this, Mione?" He gestured at the papers in front of him, at her nod he continued. "All of this," he waved once more at the papers. "Constitute my greatest secret. It's not really a secret that can be told, it's one that has to be shown." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair one more time to forestall his explanation. Growling softly to himself he decided to push forward. "I created a spell," at her gasp he hurried to add, "one with an _extremely _limited application. It's taken me almost ten years to figure it out totally." He watched as her eyes widened slightly, understanding the implications. "This spell, will allow me to transfer my memories into _one_ specific individual." He turned and looked at her fully, wrapping his arms around her waist. Staring deep into her chocolate brown eyes he stated, "Into you."

Her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hair in what appeared to him to be a nearly supersonic flight. She loved him. She knew she did. More than her own life. She has seen him at his best and at his worst. She has been by his side through all of it. _What could be worse than being by his side through whatever is worrying him? _She reached forward slowly and pulled him to her. She held him close as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Afraid that she might run screaming from him.

"I want to show you this Mione," he began in a trembling voice. "But I'm so scared that you'll leave me over it. I just couldn't bear to lose you, Mione." She pulled him closer and rubbed her hand soothingly up and down his back. His head nestled on her shoulder as he whispered almost too softly for her to hear. "I couldn't survive if you left me after this." Slowly his words penetrated her mind . . . _Ten years . . . After this . . . My memories. _And her intellectually stimulated mind pieced the puzzle together. His knowledge of some things but not others, his seemingly clairvoyance, his always split second shock when his parents entered the room. _He's lived this before, _she thought to herself. She gently untangled herself and pushed him gently back until she could look in his eyes.

"How far back have you come?" she asked. She looked into his eyes, saw the pain there, the remembered memories and wished that she hadn't asked.

"Further than anyone else," she heard him add in a mutter, "only because _you _made it possible."

She stared him in the eye, matching his worried gaze for her concerned one. "What will happen?"

"You'll get all my memories up until the moment I came back, plus maybe a few that you were too young to remember now."

"Will it hurt? You know my motto, said by one of my favorite characters . . . "

"_I'm impervious to pain. But I'm pervious to pain persuasion," _they both said at the same time and smiled at each other. Harry continued, "I've always been curious about who said that."

Hermione looked up at him and smiled coyly. "A little known writer by the name of Jon Davis. You might know him better as the person that wrote the Garfield comic strips. Garfield is a very wise cat." She gave him that grin that he couldn't help but laugh at and soon he was trying to regain his breath from laughing so hard.

When he had finally gotten his laughter under control he looked deeply into her warm chocolate eyes. Seeing the love and trust she had for him reflected there he had to warn her again. "Hermione," he began softly. "My memories, aside from a select few instances, are not the most pleasant of things. If it weren't for the fact that most of them were so useful for one reason or another, I would _obliviate_ all of them just to be able to get them out of my head." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair once more. Looking down at the floor he continued softly. "Some of them will be enough to give you nightmares. I'll understand if you don't want them. I'll even understand if you don't want to be anywhere near me after this if you do want them."

Hermione studied him for a moment, his face turned in profile to her as he refused to meet her gaze. She could see the moisture beginning to gather at the corner of his eye and realized in an instant that he was _terrified_ of this. Harry Potter, her best friend since they were infants. Harry Potter, who never seemed to let anything frighten him. Harry Potter, who had stood by her side through everything and never let _anything_ cause her harm. Harry Potter, who became her _husband _at the tender age of _eighteen months! _Was absolutely _terrified_ that he might lose her over this! At that moment she realized just how much he loved her and in return, how much _she _loved _him._

Reaching a hand towards him she gently turned his face to her and tried to pour all of the feelings of love, happiness, joy and contentment she had for him into one look. "Harry," she began softly, "from the time we were babies you have always been there for me. You held me when I cried., comforted me when I hurt and took care of me when I was sick. You have always loved me with nothing less than your whole heart and I have done the same for you. I can see how much you want this, how it has been hurting you to keep this from me. Let me be there for like you've always been there for me. Let's do this like we always have _husband_, together."

He nodded at her but the fear didn't leave his eyes. It was still there, she could see it and if anything it only grew more pronounced. "We'll need a bit more privacy for this than the common room. I also don't know how long it will take. Occlumency should help you with all of the information but it will still probably overwhelm you for a little while at first." He stood up and held out his hand to her. Smiling, she took his hand as he helped to her feet and led her to the seventh floor.

Stopping next to a tapestry of a wizard teaching trolls to dance he let go of her hand and walked back and forth in front of a blank section of wall. "Harry?" Hermione began. "What are you…?" her question trailed off into nothingness as a door suddenly appeared in the wall before them. Taking hold of her hand Harry opened the door and led her into the room.

Inside was a tastefully decorated room. Thick carpets covered the floor, a roaring fire was spreading warmth throughout the room and providing light along with dozens of floating candles and a large comfortable bed was in the middle.

Harry turned to face her and said, "Welcome…to the Room of Requirement." He gestured into the room. "This is a room that can become anything that you require. Anything that you need and even things that you didn't realize you needed will be available in whatever requirement. Want a pool to go swimming in? It will give you a pool along with changing rooms, swimsuits and towels. Want someplace to study in peace? It can give you that too. Want a place to look up information? It will give you a library solely dedicated to the topic you're looking for. A place to train? It will give you that and everything possible to aid in your training. For now, it's a place that is comfortable and we cannot be disturbed in. I don't know how long this will take and I'm just glad that it's Friday."

He took her hand and led her over to the bed. Laying her down on it he gazed worriedly into her eyes. She could feel the love, concern and fear he had for her in that one look. "Are you sure you want this, Mione? Once it's started there is no stopping it until it's over."

She nodded slowly to him. "I'm sure Harry. This is important for you so that makes it important for me, too."

"Alright Love, if you're sure then. Close your eyes and try to relax. I'll be here when you wake up." He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes as he pulled away. She could hear him draw his wand and a muttered incantation later she was seeing the world through his eyes, feeling emotions that weren't hers. She wanted to scream in horror, laugh in joy and cry in despair with what she saw.

_Harry's life before Hogwarts. The beatings and abuse and starvation._

_Harry confronting a troll and Voldemort in his first year._

_A Basilisk and Voldemort again in second._

_A swarm of Dementors and a haggard Sirius in third. So different from the laughing and happy and alive man that she knew._

_The Tri-Wizard and Voldemort again in fourth. The pain and guilt for Cedric._

_Voldemort and loosing Sirius in fifth. The Toads punishments and the guilt of leading friends into a trap where they and more importantly SHE got hurt. The prophecy._

_The Death Eater attack in sixth. Dumbledore dying. Snape killing him._

_The hunt for seventh. What they thought was the final battle but it never was._

_The continued battles. The deaths. Watching Neville and Luna being flayed alive while trying to protect their infant daughter. Trying to raise that daughter themselves before she was taken from them not even a year later. Susan, Hannah, Minerva, Filius, Remus, Tonks, all of them falling one by one. Sometimes in front of him, trying to protect him. More often hearing about it later while he wasn't there to protect them._

_Their wedding night. The soul bond. Their first and never born child. His agony over losing her. He wept for years afterwards._

_One by one, losing everyone that was dear to him. Slowly becoming more and more alone as every single living thing was destroyed by Voldemort except what could be saved in the vault._

_Despair. Such lonely and terrible despair. Giving up when there was no one left only to find out that he couldn't die. The agonies of hundreds of deaths as Voldemort tried more and more ways to make sure that he stayed dead._

_His body was cut into hundreds of pieces while he was still alive to experience the pain then scattered to the four winds. Only to wake up in the middle of a desert some unknown time later. Harry using Fiendfyre on him only to realize some months later that his body rebuilt itself from the ash. Being drawn and quarted, burned alive, drowned, exploded, stabbed, beheaded, any conceivable way of dying and Harry had experienced it._

_The despair again. Lonely, he was so lonely, he would give anything just to have someone to talk to. Hearing her voice in his head. The loving voice that he longed to hear again. The logical arguments that would make him think, created by his mind but given her voice._

_The one dim hope. The potion and ritual. The long years spent finishing the equations that she herself had started. The resignation when it was finished. The acceptance that it would either work or he would finally know peace._

_The pain of the transference. The joy that it worked. The trap that was set. The love when the bond reformed. His happiness and her eternal embarrassment at her _burble.

Everything faded and she slowly opened her eyes. Harry, _her Harry_, was sitting in a chair next to the bed. His head was on the bed and he had her hand in his. It must have been some time that had passed because he was sleeping soundly. She gave his hand a squeeze and softly called his name.

He awoke with a start and looked at her. She could see the fear in his eyes. The thought that she would leave him after everything he had done. The overwhelming love that she felt for him in that moment. That he would be so concerned for her and wanting to share himself with her but still that deep seated fear of rejection.

She pulled him close to her and held him tightly as they lay next to each other on the bed. "Oh my love. So much hurt and loneliness. So much horror." She held his head to her chest as he cried. Releasing the tears that he had hid from everyone. Clutching her tightly to him, afraid that she would leave him.

She let him cry himself out then tilted his head up to hers so that she could look him in the eyes. Smiling softly she asked, "What type of wife would I be if I left my husband after he had shared everything with me?"

He broke down in tears again. Except these were tears of joy. Tears of hope, happiness, gratefulness and above all, tears of love.

Holding tightly to each other they slowly drifted off into slumber. Closer than they had ever been before. And another golden glow surrounded the young couple on the bed as they slept.

**A/N: Alright, here it FINALLY is. I thank all of you that have stuck with this story while I was trying to write this chapter. As always reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 8**

**A/N Thank you to all of you that reviewed my last chapter! For those of you that had patience and perseverance, I give to you the next chapter! Also, what you recognize is JKR's what you don't is mine or you've been living under a rock for years.**

_Such a silly little man. Worrying about the weight of the world for so long and yet now so young and still so pure. True, he is __**my**__ silly little man but still, that really doesn't make him any less silly._

She gazed down upon her silly little man as he slept. He looked so peaceful like that. He usually did, except when in the throes of nightmares. As before, she would be by his side from now until they were parted by death. Unlike before, she was now changed because of what should have been before but was not. True, it had happened before but she was not there to see it. _Strange, how that works. I can remember the things that are to come but still have yet to see them._

He awoke slowly. The feeling of someone staring at him had slowly pervaded his sleeping mind until, like most people, sleep was but a distant memory in the world of the wide awake. He took stock of his surroundings, trying to figure out what had woken him.

_One male laying in an extremely comfortable bed . . . check. One absolutely gorgeous woman that he loved with every fiber of his being beside him in an extremely comfortable bed . . . check. One completely quiet room with no snores and no disturbances indicating the Room of Requirement with two people laying in an extremely comfortable bed . . . check. One pure white phoenix staring at said people laying in an extremely comfortable bed, oh yessssss, __**extremely comfortable bed**__. Wait! White phoenix?!_

Harry sat straight up in the extremely comfortable bed, unfortunately dislodging Hermione that had thought his chest made an extremely comfortable pillow. She awoke with a startled squawk of indignation on being dislodged from her new favorite sleeping accessory. She glared up at him, ready to properly chastise him for disturbing their extremely comfortable sleeping arrangements. That was, until she followed his wide open gaze to settle on the form of a pure white phoenix that was perched on the headboard.

~_"It is good that you are finally awake, my Harry chick. Long have I waited to talk to you and your mate. It is good that your mate finally remembered her bond. Now we can finally talk as we were always meant to."~_

Harry stared in confusion at this new addition to his sleeping arrangements, the phoenix, not Hermione. He tried to make his way through the confusing statement, puzzling over certain things and confused by more. "Wait. I don't understand. _As we were always meant to? _What does that even mean? Who are you?"

The phoenix gave a trill of laughter before her speech made itself known again. ~_"Do you not recognize me, my Harry chick? Long have we known each other. Since you were barely out of your egg. You watched me die before your burning day. I am as you should have known me, but your mating was after that time so you did not see it."~_

Harry puzzled one and one and, like most males when dealing with females, came up with three. _"Albus?"_

_~"No, my silly chick, you knew me before the deranged old man. You knew me when the tall one bought me for you."~_

Harry thought about that statement some more. Dumbledore was tall, Hagrid was taller though. But still, neither one of them had ever bought him a snowy white mythical bird before. He may have somewhat lost his mind in the last few decades before he came back but he was pretty sure he would remember something . . . like . . . that?

His mind hit light speed. Snowy bird, burning day, watched her die. The pieces finally clicked for him. "Hedwig?" he asked in a small voice.

Hedwig trilled in happiness that her friend had finally recognized her. _~"You know me now as I was always meant to be, my Harry chick. But now you must help your mate. She does not think what her eyes tell her are real."~_

Harry glanced over to his beloved Hermione, she looked particularly radiant this morning. Her hair was a mass of frizz. The curling tangles weaving in on themselves and pressing out until her hair reminded him of not so much the bushy mess she had always had but instead more like a nest for some large avian. He reached out to touch her gently. "Hermione?" Nothing. Not even a flicker of recognition. He shook her gently, repeatedly calling her name. "Mione? Mione? Miiiiiionneeeee! MIONE!"

At the last she started and turned towards him. "Harry, there's a Phoenix on the headboard."

Hedwig trilled her amused laughter again. _~"Well where else would I be? There are not a lot of perches in here after all."~_

Hermione just stared at Hedwig blankly for a moment before her eyes widened and she turned to the man in the bed next to her. "Oh, Harry!" she shouted before pulling him into one of her tightest hugs. Leaning back slightly but with her arms still around him she asked, "Did you really go through all of that…that…that horror?"

Harry gently pushed her back so he could look in her eyes. After she had properly focused on him he gave his answer. "Yes."

Hermione looked into his eyes. She saw the deep pain and hurt there. She saw, even with the last eleven years of his, now, new life the loneliness. "I'm here Harry," she said as she pulled him closer to her and rested her head on his shoulder. She hugged him close and rubbed his back soothingly before whispering in his ear, "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere unless death separates us, maybe not even then."

~~oOoOo~~

Harry walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with Hermione by his side, as always. They settled into their seats and prepared for the upcoming class, bringing forth parchment, quills, ink and their textbooks.

Harry listened with half an ear to Professor Quirrel's lecture. Privately he had to admit that the professor was a lot more informative without the stutter and being possessed by Voldemort. He was, actually, a good defense teacher.

Harry perked up somewhat and gave him more of his attention when a student asked him about phoenixes.

"A phoenix is a pure creature of good, Miss Patil. As such, they come when they like and befriend who they like. If a phoenix appears to a witch or wizard it will stay with them until the end of that witch or wizards life or until that witch or wizard is no longer deemed good by the phoenix itself."

Harry tried to phrase his pointed question as a seemingly nonchalant one. "Professor, is there no way to keep a phoenix after it has appeared to you?"

Professor Quirrel gave this some thought before he replied. "There are certain spells and rituals which, once a phoenix appears, will bind the creature to that person. But to learn these spells or rituals on the remote chance that a phoenix will appear to a person would be, to me at least, arrogance in the extreme. I highly doubt that a phoenix would appear to someone that knew such things."

"How would you go about making sure that the phoenix was there willingly and not as a captive to spells or rituals then?" asked the shy Ravenclaw, Lisa Turpin.

Professor Quirrel widened his eyes for a moment before leaning back against the front of his desk. His pose one of a person deep in thought. "Truthfully, Miss Turpin," he said slowly. "I have never given that matter much thought. For a Phoenix to appear to a witch or wizard is such a rare event that I believe only the Headmaster has had a Phoenix appear to them in the last three hundred years."

Harry hid a chuckle in the guise of a cough before speaking up. "Actually, Professor, that's not true."

All eyes turned to him and his cheeks reddened at the scrutiny. Professor Quirrel gave him a piercing look before asking the relevant question. "And who do you know that has had a Phoenix appear to them other than the Headmaster?"

Harry smiled back at the professor, he really was much more likable this way, before lifting his head and, speaking as if to the ceiling, called out, "Hedwig!"

Hedwig appeared in a burst of flames above the students heads. Flying around, she trilled a joyous song that had almost the whole room smiling before landing gracefully upon the outstretched arm of Harry Potter. "Hey girl," he greeted while stroking her soft white plumage. Turning back to the startled man at the front of the classroom he remembered the niceties, "Professor Quirrel, may I introduce you to the magnificent Hedwig who, aside from my wife, is the most beautiful female in the world." Hedwig trilled sharply at him and began smacking him upside the head with her wing.

"Ow! Quit it Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed as he tried to duck and protect his head . Unfortunately for him, having the person that was hitting you in the head perched on your shoulder made the task impossible. "All right! All right! I give!" Hedwig calmly folded her wings and settled on his shoulder while Harry straightened and turned to his professor.

"Professor Quirrel, may I introduce you to the magnificent Hedwig who, _along with my wife_," he glared at the phoenix darkly before turning to the professor again. "Is the most beautiful female in the world." Hedwig preened her feathers and trilled happily at the correction. Harry turned his head towards her and stated, "You are _such_ a diva."

~~oOoOo~~

Harry was seated at the Gryffindor table eating his lunch. Hermione by his side, was looking through a book. His enjoyment of the simple meal was interrupted by the grating voice of Percy _the pompous prefect _Weasley. "Potter! I need to have a word with you, if you please."

Harry slowly finished eating his last mouthful before carefully placing his utensils aside and turning to face the pompous prefect. "Yes? What is it I can do for you, Mr. Weasley?" he asked in what he hoped was a pleasant tone.

"That bird of yours. You'll have to get rid of it. If you'd looked closely at the letter you were provided before starting Hogwarts, then it clearly states that students will be allowed an owl, a cat, or a toad. No where did it say anything about a phoenix," he continued smugly.

"You are correct in your rule stating. I personally congratulate you on the sheer amount of useless information you have been able to retain." Harry struggled to keep his face neutral before continuing. "However, as you are clearly woefully misinformed I am forced to rectify a lapse in your knowledge." Harry chuckled to himself as he saw Percy try and keep his composure. He knew that the potion he had slipped him earlier was now in effect.

As if on cue, Percy opened his mouth. "And what knowledge do you have, that I, as a prefect, do not currently have? I only ask because I am trying to get you in trouble and all knowledge makes that easier." Percy's eyes widened at that last comment , disbelieving that he had actually revealed that.

Professor McGonagall came striding towards the apparent confrontation. "What seems to bee that trouble Mr. Weasley?"

"Mr. Potter here has a pet that is not authorized by the school rules." His smug smile directed at Harry then turned into a pleasantly sweet simpering one as he turned to his head of house. "I'm only bringing it up because I'm trying to get him in trouble as well as to suck up to you so I can better my chances of being Head Boy when I enter my seventh year." Percy immediately clapped his hands over his mouth at that statement.

"Mr. Weasley is correct, Professor McGonagall. Hedwig is not on the list of approved pets that we were given prior to attending here today." He could see the smug smile on the arses face from the corner of his eye. He decided to wipe that smile away immediately. "However, Hogwarts Charter Title Three, Paragraph Seven, Subsection Nine clearly states that any Familiar, no matter what it may be, will be allowed to attend as its bond permits." Hedwig decided to lend credence to this rule as she flamed into the Great Hall and landed on Harry's shoulder.

The potion that he had slipped Percy was compelling him to add the truthful reasons behind every one of his actions. As such, he turned to McGonagall and posed his next question. "But, Professor! How am I supposed to make myself look good in your eyes and get the Head Boy position if I can't catch anyone breaking the rules?" he asked/wined.

"Mr. Potter is correct. Familiars of any type are allowed within the walls of Hogwarts as their bond permits." She gave a small smile at Harry. "However, I am less than pleased with your attempts to change the color of your nose to match my arse . As such, I will be keeping a close watch on your prefectship in order to ensure that any reporting by you is just, correct, and accurate." With that she walked away back to her business, leaving a gaping Percy, a smiling Harry and Hermione, and an extremely smug looking Hedwig.

**A/N I am so **_**very and extremely **_**sorry that it has taken this long to update my story. I would like to be able to promise you faster and longer chapters. Unfortunately it would be a lie if I said that. Updates will be forthcoming as the chapter permits and the muse strikes. This won't be to everyone's preference but I can only do so much at a time.**

**That said. Thank you to everyone that has stuck with my story! As always, reviews are appreciated, even if they're bad.**


	9. Chapter 9

**It's MY Life**

**Chapter 9**

**A/N What's mine is mine. What you recognize is either JKR's or you've been living under a rock for years.**

Harry sighed to himself as he walked towards the second floor. Entering Myrtle's bathroom he spoke the phrase that would let him into the chamber of secrets.

After sliding down the tube and making his way into the chamber he called out. "Silva? Are you about?" The parsel tongue words making his way past his lips effortlessly. He carefully walked forwards to the statue at the far end of the chamber, listening for the sounds of Silva, Salazar Slytherins personal basilisk.

Suddenly he heard a noise from one of the many passageways that surrounded the chamber. "Harry. It is good to see you again. Forgive me, I was out hunting the spiders in the Forbidden Forest and did not hear your entry. They are very tasty though."

"That's fine, Silva." Harry glanced around the Chamber. "Are you sure you have enough _entertainment_ here? I could modify the cavern so that there would be more things to entertain you with, if you so desire?"

Silva lowered her head, apparently deep in thought. "I am now free to come and go as I please. There are very tasty morsels in the forest. Much more than when Salazar was here. I am content at the moment."

Harry looked thoughtfully at the Basilisk, _Silva_, he reminded himself, then turned towards the massive chamber laid out in front of him from the base of Salazars' statue. Closing his eyes while drawing his wand he focused on the chamber itself. Trying to imagine what would be most pleasing to the giant serpent.

A moments thought and wave of his wand later and he had created a veritable serpent theme park. A warm, temperature controlled area that would keep Silva warm and safe, a tunnel which she could slither through with many outcroppings that would help her shed her skin. Even a muggle waterslide with a combination of a car wash with heavy bristles to help scrub those pesky, hard to reach areas.

He watched as Silva looked around at the newly created objects in her home. "I'd suggest the slide first, Silva. It should prove most entertaining for you."

Harry watched as Silva slithered her way to the start of the waterslide, lowering herself at top. "What do I do?" she asked with puzzlement.

"Just slide yourself into the tube and let it carry you along to the end," Harry replied. He watched as she slid herself into the tube at the start of the slide. Once she was at least two thirds of the way into the slide, the rushing water carried the rest of her along, her tail disappearing rapidly. Harry watched as the clear tubes carried his large serpentine friend through the ride. Her moans of pleasure as she slide through the stiff bristles, removing the last of stubborn scales was somewhat disturbing. Her shouts of glee/fear as she slide down a long slide or was flung through a corkscrew were infinitely more amusing though.

Silva splashed down at the end of the ride, which thanks to his magic, had taken a good five minutes. Her head broke the surface of the large pool and immediately sought out Harry. "That was more fun than I've had in a thousand years!" she exclaimed, almost out of breath. "Even the games I played with Sal were not as much fun as this wondrous thing!" Silva dipped her body under the relaxing warm waters of the pool before resurfacing and staring at him. "Thank you, Harry, for this wonderful gift. May I go on it again?" she asked with a hopeful look in her serpent eyes.

"You can go on it as many times as you like. I've made it a permanent part of your home now. Feel free to go on it when ever you feel like it," Harry stated. Silva slithered over to him and gave him lick up the side of his face with her tongue, the snake equivalent of a kiss on the cheek. Harry shuddered at the feeling.

"Thank you, Harry. I think I'm going to go on it all the time!" she exclaimed.

Harry blushed and looked at the ground. "Um, Silva? I didn't make this for you to think you owed me a favor, although I can see how it could be construed as such. I actually came down here to ask you for a favor before I even made this for you. Would you think of me as rude or conniving if I still asked you for my favor?" Harry blushed and looked at his feet, scuffling the toe of his boot along the floor of the chamber.

Silva looked at him searchingly, trying to find the catch. Seeing his demeanor and the way he asked his question, respectfully and almost as an afterthought she really had only one answer. She curled her body into many coils before she laid her head down and looked at him eye to eye. "You are a speaker. You could command me if you wished. The fact that you are asking is a welcome change. Ask, speaker. And I will think of your favor."

Harry looked cautiously at Siva before speaking, trying to judge her mood. Unfortunately, snake looks were not among his amazing knowledge. He decided he would just have to wing it, like always. He took a deep breath and asked.

"MayIhavesomeofyourvenom?" he asked in one rapid, unintelligible breath.

Silva blinked her eyes. She was sure that she had understood but wanted to make sure anyways. "What was that?"

Harry breathed in deeply, composing himself before repeating his question. "May I have some of your venom?" he asked again. "I know it is a very personal question to ask of a snake. Especially such a beautiful one as yourself."

Silva rolled her slit eyes before looking at Harry again. "You are a speaker, I must obey you, but do not think that your flattery will gain you more with me." She studied her new master while he blushed and stuttered. "Though the fact that you asked instead of demanded is an incentive to change that." She gave out a soft serpentine laughter as Harry blushed and stammered. "Why do you need some of my venom?" she asked after regaining control of her laughter.

Harry paused in thought before answering. He couldn't just tell her that because he killed her in a different reality with the Sword of Gryffindor and it absorbed the properties of her venom, that it was one of the few, _safe_, ways of destroying Horcuxes. Of course, if he had ever so much as nicked himself with that blade it would have been fatal. He didn't think that Fawkes would come around to save him a second time if that happened again. "It is one of the few ways to defeat my enemy. He is the one I gave my order to you of pretending to obey but not actually following," he explained calmly. "There are other, more dangerous ways, but this is the safest."

Silva reared her head up and looked at the wizard before her. She contemplated him for a long moment. This wizard had never been anything but kind to her, he gave freely of himself without asking anything in return. That he would ask this, this most personal of requests of her, not for himself but to save others, spoke volumes of his character. She stared at him, contemplating what she knew of him, until she reached her decision. "You may have this gift. _ONCE_. I will hold you to its use. Do not ask this of me again unless you are in _dire_ need of it. Do you understand this, speaker?"

Harry bowed his head as he nodded. "Thank you, Silva. I give you my word that I will not ask this of you again unless it is most direly needed. For you to give me such a precious gift speaks highly of your opinion of me. I will do my best to be worthy of the choice you have made and also do my best to make sure that you never have cause to be ashamed of your gift."

Silva nodded her head once then open her mouth and placed her fangs into the cloth covered top of the glass jar that Harry provided. She allowed a few drops of her venom to leak out and then pulled her head back. "Be careful with that, young Harry. I would feel bad if you were to kill yourself with my venom." She then gave a snake kiss to him, laughing as he shivered, before turning once more to the waterslide that he had provided, it really was the most fun she had had in her thousand years.

~~oOoOo~~

Harry was relaxing in his bed when he had a sudden thought. Pulling out his mirror he whispered "Prongs" into it. A few moments later the face of his father came into view inside the little mirror he held in his hands. "Hey Midnight, how's things going in the wee firsties land?"

Harry rolled his eyes and looked back at his dad. "Everything's fine dad. Nothing to complain about yet. Except for the fact that you still owe me a memory for me to see." Harry smirked at his father knowing exactly what it was he was asking for. He had explained to his dad exactly what was to happen after he had left for Hogwarts. He had found out that for some bizarre and completely unknown reason, his Uncle Remus was deathly afraid of bunnies for some odd reason. Harry's plan had called for a specific word to be spoken by his father at breakfast when they were all together. Following that word his dad was to comment on Remus' footwear, which would consist of fuzzy bunny slippers. Harry suspected the resulting calamity would be hilarious.

Concurrently, while that prank was running, Harry had convinced his dad to douse Sirius in catnip while he was sleeping and then fill his room with conjured kittens.

Harry sat back and enjoyed the memory after his dad had given it to him, he of course invited Hermione to join him. The memory began while James, Lily and Remus were enjoying breakfast. James absentmindedly mentioned the rampaging plot bunnies that were wandering around in his mind while he tried to figure out some hypothetical things regarding the Potter estate. His conversation broke of as he glanced at Remus' feet, "Interesting footwear you have there Moony," was his only comment.

Remus glanced down at his feet and immediately started screaming like a little girl while at the same time trying to swat the very offensive bunnies from his feet. He had fallen off his chair onto the floor while trying to knock the offensive footwear away from him while still trying to keep his distance. It was very amusing to those watching.

After Remus had recovered, James went to check on the other Marauder. He walked up to his room and knocked. Not hearing any answer he cautiously opened the door. He peeked into the room to take a quick look around. There was Sirius huddled into a corner, his knees to his chest and his arm wrapped around them. His eyes were in danger of being gouged out by his kneecaps if his face pressed any harder into them. It sounded to James as if he had been sobbing.

Walking over to his oldest friend, he knelt down and gently placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "What's the matter Padfoot? What's got you so spooked?"

Sirius sat there for a long moment just staring of into space. James had to shake his shoulder a few more times to try and get a response from him. Finally Sirius looked into James' eyes and mumbled something. James looked back at his best friend, "Sorry? I didn't quite catch that."

Suddenly one of Sirius' hands shot forward and wrapped itself around James' neck. The arm pulled his head close to Sirius' mouth until he was finally able to whisper in his ear. He proceeded to explain it to James and then leaned back, hugging his legs to himself and trying to hide his eyes from it.

James stood and took a step back from his longtime friend. Looking down at the near comatose man he couldn't help but replay the words he had spoken to him in his mind. Though they were barely a whisper, James knew they would stay with him until his dying day for the sheer amount of terror the words carried. _"So many cats!"_

**AN2 I freely admit that the fear of bunnies and the cats part come from some story I have read sometime in the past. Unfortunately, as I cannot remember which story it was or who the author was I cannot give credit where credit is due. If any of my readers can point this out I will gladly recognize the author in the next chapter.**

**As always, reviews are very much appreciated!**


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